'o Be a Pastor 



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BY 

THEODORE L. CUYLER, D. D. 

LATE PASTOR OF THE LAFAYETTE AVENUE CHURCH, BROOKLYN. 



NEW YORK 
THE BAKER AND TAYLOR CO. 

740 and 742 Broadway. 



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,G85 



Copyright, 1890, 
By The Baker & Taylor Co. 



j • a s r 
Engineers School Liby. 

<* June 29, 1931 



(The HJoung pim.otcv.o' of the goxH $c$\\$ Christ 



ALL CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS, 
THIS LITTLE VOLUME 
IS LOVINGLY INSCRIBED. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

I. The Importance of Pastoral La- 
bor 7 

II. Pastoral Visits 21 

III. Visitation of the Sick — Funeral 

Services 36 

IV. The Treatment of the Troubled 45 
V. How to Have a Working 

Church 54 

VI. Training Converts 63 

VII. Prayer-Meetings 71 

VIII. A Model Prayer Meeting .... 79 

IX. Revivals S7 

X. Drawing the Bow at a Venture . 106 

XI. Whereto be a Pastor 112 

XII. The Joys of the Christian Min- 
istry 120 



HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 




CHAPTER I. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF PASTORAL LABOR. 

GREAT number of volumes have 
been written on the art of preach- 
ing. Lectures on Homiletics have 
been multiplied until they would form a re- 
spectable library. But a large part of the 
labors of every settled minister lies outside 
of the pulpit. They embrace the whole 
sphere of his personal intercourse with his 
flock, his care of the sick and the suffering, 
his dealings with awakened or doubting or 
troubled souls, his organization of christian 
work, his development of the spiritual life 
of the church, and his executive oversight 



8 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

of all its manifold activities. Upon this 
vitally important side of ministerial life the 
current literature is quite scanty. 

Richard Baxter's " Reformed Pastor " is 
a classic of undisputed value ; but it is now 
more seldom studied than it ought to be, 
and the circumstances in which modern 
ministers are placed, are very different from 
those which surrounded the immortal 
" bishop " of Kidderminster. About forty 
years ago (in 1850) Dr. Ichabod Smith 
Spencer, of Brooklyn, issued a very remarka- 
ble work entitled " A Pastor's Sketches," 
which attracted wide attention and admira- 
tion. It was devoted to a narrative of 
specific " cases of conscience," and of con- 
versation with anxious inquirers ; his deal- 
ings with whom exhibited a most surprising 
sagacity. Other volumes more or less 
similar to Dr. Spencer's brilliant book, have 
been published. There still seems to be, 
however, a vacant niche for another treatise 
which shall discuss in the most familiar, col- 
loquial and practical fashion, the every-day 



THE IMPOR TANCE OF CHURCH WORK. 9 

duties of a Christian Pastor. At the solici- 
tation of several of my ministerial brethren, 
I have been led to undertake such a discus- 
sion; and if the results of forty-four years of 
experience and observation shall prove 
to be of value to others — especially to 
my younger brethren — I shall be thank- 
ful. 

The importance of all that portion of a 
minister's work that lies outside of his pulpit 
can hardly be overestimated. What is the 
chief object of the christian ministry? It 
goes without saying that it is to win souls 
to Jesus Christ. A great element of power 
with every faithful ambassador of Christ 
should be heart-power. A majority of all 
congregations, rich or poor, are reached and 
influenced, not so much through the intel- 
lect as through the affections. This is an 
encouraging fact ; for while only one man 
in ten may have the talent to become a very 
great preacher, the other nine, if they love 
Christ and love human souls, can become 
great pastors. Nothing gives a minister 



10 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

such heart-power as personal acquaintance 
with, and personal attentions to those whom 
he aims to influence; for everybody loves 
to be noticed. Especially is personal sym- 
pathy welcome in seasons of trial. Let a 
pastor make himself at home in everybody's 
home ; let him come often and visit their 
sick rooms, and kneel beside their empty 
cribs, and their broken hearts, and pray 
with them ; let him go to the business men 
in his congregation when they have suffered 
reverses and give them a word of cheer ; 
let him be quick to recognize the poor, and 
the children — and he will weave a cord 
around the hearts of his people that will 
stand a prodigious pressure. His inferior 
sermons — (for every minister is guilty of 
such occasionally) — will be kindly condoned, 
and he can launch the most pungent truths 
at his auditors and they will not take 
offense. He will have won their hearts to 
himself, and that is a great step towards 
drawing them to the house of God, and win- 
nine their souls to the Saviour. "A house- 



THE IMPORTANCE OF CHURCH WORK. II 

going minister" said Chalmers, "makes a 
church-going people." 

Never must the chief end of a minister's 
labors be lost sight of. It is to awaken the 
careless, to warn the endangered, to com- 
fort the sorrowing, to help the weak, and to 
edify believers ; — in short to make bad peo- 
ple good, and good people better. Preach- 
ing strong gospel-sermons is one of the 
most effective means to this end ; but it is 
not the only means. Outside of the pulpit 
every messenger of Christ can come to close 
quarters with each individual soul, and 
preach eye to eye; nobody can dodge such 
preaching or fall to sleep under it. If the 
shepherd can only save the sheep, by going 
after the sheep, then woe be unto him if he 
neglect his duty ! As many souls are won to 
Jesus Christ outside of the pulpit, as in the 
pulpit. I am firmly persuaded that if many 
a minister would take part of the time that 
he now spends in polishing his discourses, 
or in miscellaneous studies and would de- 
vote it to pastoral visitation he would have 



12 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

larger congregations, and a far larger num- 
ber of conversions to Christ. He would be 
a healthier man for the physical exercise of 
going from house to house; he would be a 
more fluent speaker from the practice he 
would gain in personal conversation ; he 
would become a much more tender, elo- 
quent and heart-moving ambassador of his 
Master. 

There is one potent argument for close 
pastoral intercourse with his congregation 
that many ministers are in danger of ignor- 
ing, or of underestimating. Every pulpit 
needs to be vitalized by close contact with 
living people, rather than with lifeless 
books ; and the best practical discourses are 
those which the congregation help their 
minister to prepare. His books teach him 
many truths in the abstract ; his people can 
teach him those and many more truths in 
the concrete. By constant and loving in- 
tercourse with the individuals of his flock, 
he becomes acquainted with their peculiari- 
ties, and thus enlarges his knowledge of 



THE IMPORTANCE OF CHURCH WORK. I 3 

human nature, which is second only to a 
knowledge of God's Word. He discovers 
also their spiritual wants. He soon be- 
comes convinced that they care most to 
have clear, strong, practical instruction 
about their every-day duties,* trials, and 
temptations. They want to know not only 
how to save their souls for eternity, but 
how to save their lives in this world. They 
want portable truth that they can carry 
with them into their homes, into their sick 
rooms, into their storey and shops, and into 
every nook and corner of daily life. If a 
minister is a wise man (and neither God nor 
man has any use for fools), he will be made 
all the wiser by the thousand suggestions 
which he can gain from the immortal beings 
to whom he preaches. 

There is about as much human nature in 
the pulpit as there is in the pew. We all 
love honest commendation and encourage- 
ment. Nothing cheers and helps a pastor 
more than to have his people say to him 
during the week, " I thank you for last Sun- 



14 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

day's sermon ; it did me solid good ; it re- 
lieved some of my doubts, it lifted off some 
of my loads, it comforted me under my 
heartaches, it brought me nearer to Christ." 
Such encouragements not only reveal to us 
what our people need, but they are an hun- 
dred-fold better " pay " than a salary. A 
very distinguished and evangelical minister 
once said to me rather sadly, " I don't get 
that sort of encouragement once in six 
months." Probably the real reason is that 
he spends so much of. his time in his study, 
preparing his superb sermons, that he does 
not go familiarly among his flock, and give 
them a chance to say such cheering and 
helpful things. They listen to him, love 
him, and are proud of him, but are not 
enough " in touch " with him. And when I 
have read his masterly discourses, I have 
often thought that their only lack was the 
lack of just those tender, close, comforting 
home-truths which an intimate, personal in- 
tercourse with his people would suggest to 
him. He is a very great preacher, but per- 



THE IMPORTANCE OF CHURCH WORK. 1 5 

haps would be still greater if he were a 
pastor-preacher. 

In Dundee, I conversed with a gray- 
headed member of St. Peter's Presbyterian 
Church, who, in his youth, listened to the 
sainted Robert Murray McCheyne. He 
spoke of him with the deepest reverence 
and love. But the chief thing that he re- 
membered — -after forty-six years — was that 
McCheyne, a few days before his death, met 
him in the street, and, laying his hand on 
his shoulder, said to him, kindly, "Jimmy, I 
hope that all is well with your soul. How 
is your sick sister? I am coming to see her 
again shortly." That sentence or two had 
stuck to the old Christian for over forty 
years. It had grappled his pastor to him. 
And this little narrative gave me a fresh 
insight into the secret of McCheyne's won- 
derful power. He was a man of rare spirit- 
uality and knowledge of God's Word ; he 
was a tender, soul-awakening minister of 
Jesus Christ ; his ministry was richly suc- 
cessful ; and largely because he kept in 



l6 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

touch with his people, and was a pastor as 
well as a powerful preacher. 

Ought every minister to strive to be 
popular? Yes ; if that word be used in its 
legitimate sense. Of course the mere hun- 
ger for applause from selfish motives, is an 
utter degradation of a high and holy calling. 
Such unsanctified ambition is a cancer that 
gnaws away the vitals of every man who 
falls a prey to it. But there is a laudable 
desire of popularity. Every herald of God's 
Word should strive to "commend himself to 
every man's conscience in the sight of God " 
and to " let no man despise him." We are 
told that the common people — i. e. the mass 
of the people irrespective of social caste — 
heard Jesus Christ gladly. 

To gain the ear and to win the affection 
of our fellow-men, is as much a part of our 
duty, as it is to study our Bibles. What is 
the use of studying the Bible if we cannot 
get people to hear us expound it ? The 
secret of a legitimate and permanent popu- 
larity is this ; — first, keep your heart strong 



THE IMPORTANCE OF CHURCH WORK, ij 

and sweet and loving and courageous by a 
constant living in Jesus Christ ; and sec- 
ondly, take a personal interest in everybody. 
To each human being on this globe nobody 
is quite as important as his own self. This 
is not egotism or self-conceit ; it is an 
instinct. The poor man who blacks my 
boots, or saws my wood is a more impor- 
tant person to himself than Bismarck or 
Gladstone. What becomes of the German 
or the British Empire is of less consequence 
to that obscure son of toil than that he 
should earn a dime to buy his breakfast. 
This. instinct is universal. Every ambassa- 
dor of Christ should avail himself of it and 
use it. He should endeavor to find out the 
character, condition and needs of every 
person within his reach. He should put 
himself into personal sympathy with every- 
body. The man who is called to pro- 
claim the glorious gospel is bound to 
preach it winsomely as well as boldly — 
whether his parish be in a rustic region 
or in the crowded hive of a great 



1 8 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

city. Popularity is power. Use it for 
God! 

A western clergyman once addressed to 
me the inquiry whether " eastern ministers 
regard pastoral labors as befitting an intel- 
lectual and manly ministry?" What the 
opinion of other "eastern pastors" may be, 
I cannot affirm ; but I have a very decided 
opinion that the ministry of Paul and his 
Divine Master were both intellectual and 
manly. They both devoted a great deal of 
time and effort to personal interviews— often 
with very humble individuals. Three of 
Christ's most memorable and precious utter- 
ances were delivered to a single auditor — 
Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, and the 
rich young ruler. Jesus Christ made a 
great many pastoral visits. If my western 
brother means by the word " manly " to 
describe uncompromising fidelity to con- 
science in the face of jeers or scoffs, then it 
is a prime essential in every minister; but 
it is equally essential that he be womanly 
in sympathetic tenderness, and childlike in 



THE IMPORTANCE OF CHURCH WORK. 1 9 

simplicity and meekness. Manliness is a 
good thing ; godliness is still better ; imita- 
tion of Jesus Christ is best of all. 

Perhaps our friend had formed his estimate 
of pastoral work from the remark of a cer- 
tain famous preacher that he " had no time 
to gossip over a cup of tea with old 
women." That was his plausible excuse 
for neglecting to visit his people ; but he 
has paid the penalty for it in the fact that 
while he has attracted a vast crowd around 
his brilliant and orthodox pulpit, he has not 
built up a compact, well-organized money- 
giving church. I maintain that the upbuild- 
ing and perpetuation of a strong working 
church depends quite as much upon close 
personal oversight as upon popular preach- 
ing. In a solid wall each stone must be 
handled ; each has its place ; and the soft 
"pudding-stones" must be kept out of 
places where the heavy strain comes. Faith- 
ful pastoral labor is quite a different thing 
from " gossiping from house to house." It 
requires brains and patience and consecra- 



20 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

tion to the holy purpose of saving souls. 
It consumes time ; but how can the same 
time be spent more profitably elsewhere ? 
If any minister of the gospel fancies himself 
to be too intellectual or too manly to under- 
take such patient labors for his Master, he 
has mistaken his calling. He had better 
take to literature or the lyecum-platform or 
a chair of philosophy. 

It is an encouraging thought that the 
humblest minister may become a faithful 
and successful pastor. God never intended 
that this world should be saved by pulpit 
geniuses or else He would create more of 
them. The average Christian must serve 
this world if it is saved at all. Every herald 
of the gospel who loves his Master, loves his 
Bible, loves his fellow-men, and who hungers 
to win souls to the Saviour, can be a good pas- 
tor, if he honestly aims to become one. The 
Lord Jesus Christ, in this respect as in every 
other, is our model. " I am the GOOD 
SHEPHERD ; the shepherd knoweth His 
sheep; He calleth all His sheep by name." 




CHAPTER II. 

PASTORAL VISITS. 

HAVE already emphasized the vital 
importance of establishing a close 
personal intercourse with all the 
people among whom you labor. You can 
do but little good with your sermons to 
those who dislike you, and no good at all to 
those who refuse to hear you. The business 
of a minister of Christ is, not simply to 
preach the Word, but to win hearers to the 
Word ; still more, to win them to become 
doers of the Word. Congregations are 
built up externally by thorough pastoral 
work, and then they are built up internally 
by a thorough setting-forth of Bible truth. 
It is one thing to attract a gaping crowd to 
witness a display of pulpit pyrotechny ; it is 



22 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

quite another thing to attract and to hold 
attentive listeners to the gospel of life. 
When I was a lad upon a sheep farm, I had 
to gather the flock to the troughs before 
they could be fed, and I found it a good 
plan to go out among them with a basket 
of oats on my arm. 

Set it down as a prime rule to spend part 
of every day in circulating among your 
people. Do not let your library — no, not 
even your Bible or your sermon-study, en- 
tice you away from your pastoral duties. 
If your mornings are spent in honest study, 
you can devote the after-part of the day to 
itinerating. If you go in the right way to a 
man's house, you are very likely to win him 
and to hold him in God's house. " The 
sermon always sounds better to me on Sun- 
day when I have had a shake of my minis- 
ter's hand during the week." This was the 
very natural remark of a very sensible par- 
ishioner. The invitations and instructions 
of God's Word come with tenfold more 
power from one whom we love than from 



PASTORAL VISITS. 23 

the man who treats us with indifference and 
neglect. 

After all, the chief power of a Christian 
minister is heart-poiver. That is Christ's 
real power over you and me. The pride of 
a congregation may be awakened by bril- 
liant pulpit displays ; but it is personal at- 
tention and affectionate sympathy with each 
individual that bind our congregations to us 
with hooks of steel. And when we have 
grappled the affections of our people to us, 
they will bear any amount of close, search- 
ing truth and of the most pungent rebukes 
of their personal sins, without flinching. I 
once opened a pulpit-broadside against a 
certain sin which would inevitably have 
driven a certain pewholder outside of the 
doors, if I had not previously got a strong 
hold on him by pastoral attention in a time 
of trouble. Conscience often requires a 
" plain-spoken " minister of God to put a 
severe strain on the tether that binds him 
to his pastorate ; at such times it is a happy 
thing for him if that tether is securely fast- 



24 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

ened to an hundred or more of family altars 
and firesides. Some brethren make a sad 
mistake when they imagine that they lost 
their situations because they preached the 
truth too faithfully, or because their people 
would not endure sound doctrine. Perhaps 
the real cause was that they had been poor 
pastors, and never had acquired any genuine 
grip on the personal affection of their flocks. 
Not one minister in ten is ever dismissed on 
account of his fidelity to any duty. 

Of course, if you are a faithful pastor, 
you will secure a regular visit to every fam- 
ily in your flock once (or oftener), in every 
year. But extra emergencies demand an 
extra call promptly. Sudden affliction de- 
mands an immediate visit. If you are a 
sagacious " watchman," you will also be 
very prompt in giving attention to any case 
of difficulty or disaffection. For example, 

Mr. A has become very sore on account 

of some scandal raised against him or on 
account of his pew-rent, or from some im- 
agined unkindness on your part. Human 



PASTORAL VISITS. 2$ 

nature gets sore on any spot that is sensi- 
tive. Whenever you learn of any such case, 
put on your hat at the earliest practicable 
moment, and go straightway to that man, 
and have a frank, honest talk with him. In 
a few minutes you may prevent that sore 
from festering, or may heal it on the spot. 
Perhaps the man has been injured, and you 
may redress his injury ; he will love you 
ever afterward. Perhaps he was quite in 
the wrong, and then you have an opportu- 
nity to point out his error and to do him 
good. Do not be afraid to deal honestly 
with him. The probe or the lancet kindly 
used may save him from worse things to 
follow. Nathan did the best job of his life 
when he dealt faithfully with a very promi- 
nent transgressor. 

These prompt dealings with offended peo- 
ple or with " crotchety " people or with back- 
sliders and wrong-doers, are not the pleas- 
ant part of a pastor's work; they are not 
half so agreeable as attending weddings or 
visiting warm-hearted, stimulating disciples 



26 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

of Christ. But you are not fit for your 
sacred office if you shirk any duty because 
it is disagreeable. It goes against the grain 
to call upon certain persons ; especially to 
talk plainly with them about their sins or 
the salvation of their souls. Ah, how often 
we ministers feel ashamed of ourselves when 
we find that these very persons were wonder- 
ing why we did not come to them sooner and 
interest ourselves in their welfare! 

Set it down as a cardinal principle, my 
young brother, that if you would interest 
people in the gospel and interest them 
in their salvation, you have got to in- 
terest yourself \n them and all that belongs 
to them. You must win them to yourself 
and win them to the sanctuary, if you would 
win them to Christ. Find out, therefore, 
where your people live, and keep a careful 
record of their residences. Be sure to re- 
member where poor old Mr. A or blind 

Mother B or bedridden Mrs. C 

lives, and never let them feel, that they are 
neglected. If a business-man in your parish 



PASTORAL VISITS. 2J 

has met with a sad reverse, go at once to his 
counting-room and give him a warm shake 
of the hand and a word of encouragement. 
When you grasp his hand, he will slip the 
key to his heart into yours. If you learn 
that the son or daughter in any family has 
fallen into open disgrace, then is the time 
for you to pay them a tender visit and give 
them confidential counsels as well as sympa- 
thy. If the tidings of serious sickness reach 
you from any dwelling, lose no time in get- 
ting there. A soul may be very near to 
eternity and may need your presence most 
imperatively. The person that wants you is 
the person that you want. And if you are 
always on the lookout and always at the 
post where a service for your Master can be 
rendered, you will never complain that time 
hangs heavy on your hands, or that " your 
field is not large enough " for you. 

The excuse that is sometimes made that 
a congregation is too large for any man's 
oversight is absurd. All things are possible 
to the faithful man who understands the 



28 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

value of time, and is a miser of the minutes. 
Dr. S. H. Tyng, Senior, was for many years 
the rector of the largest Episcopal church in 
New York, and yet he visited every family 
in his flock. Dr. John Hall, who has at this 
time the largest Presbyterian parish, and 
Dr. Wm. M. Taylor, who has the largest 
Congregational parish, are both systematic 
pastors ; they know the geography of every 
household committed to their charge. Yet 
these three men never scrimped their ser- 
mon-preparations. 

I once took occasion to say that there is 
about one minister (or two) in every genera- 
tion who is so situated that he cannot be a 
visitant of his vast flock. Charles H. Spur- 
geon is that man in the present generation. 
With a membership of 4,000 souls, "with the 
charge of a theological school, a religious 
magazine and a dozen missions of charity 
(and tormenting twinges of the gout be- 
sides), he cannot be expected to visit eight 
or nine hundred families. He leaves pas- 
toral duties to his brother and his Board of 



PASTORAL VISITS. 20. 

Elders. When Mr. Spurgeon does meet his 
parishioners, he is very approachable and 
affable. 

Pastoral work is a thing to be learned by 
practice, just like making a hat, or conduct- 
ing a lawsuit. Books will not help you 
much ; but a genuine heartlove for Christ, 
and a personal sympathy with human souls, 
will make you successful. (If you do not 
possess these two essentials, you have mis- 
taken your calling, and had better get out 
of the ministry.) As soon as you take 
charge of a church whose call you have ac- 
cepted, begin your tour of visitation at 
once. Do not omit a single house occupied 
by any one who either attends your church 
regularly or occasionally. In order to ascer- 
tain their whereabouts, make an urgent re- 
quest from the pulpit for every family (or 
single person) to furnish you their residence. 
Also from time to time request all those 
who have changed their residences to inform 
you promptly of the fact. I often urge my 
people to inform me promptly of every case 



30 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

of serious sickness. The neglect to do this 
sometimes involves serious mischief. I 
never accept as an excuse for this neglect 
the remark, " You ought to have missed me 
from church, and come to inquire after me." 
It is not a minister's business to take the 
census of his congregation every Sabbath ; 
and a person may be absent from a dozen 
causes. Ministers are not omniscient ; and 
we must press upon our people the necessity 
of keeping us constantly informed as to 
everything in their households which we 
ought to know — whether it be a case of 
sickness, or of peculiar affliction, or of a soul 
awakened to a conviction of sin. Whatever 
touches your people's hearts should touch 
yours. You cannot keep the tie between 
pastor and flock too close or too strong. 

I have seldom found it wise to send word 
in advance to families in my parish that I 
would visit them on a certain day or hour. 
For I might be prevented from coming, and 
thus subject them to disappointment and 
annoyance. Unless you are sent for to visit 



PASTORAL VISITS. 3 1 

a particular house for a particular purpose, 
it is the best plan to arrange each day's vis- 
itations to suit yourself. If you come in 
upon your people unawares (as you com- 
monly will), it depends very much upon 
yourself whether you are cordially wel- 
comed. If you enter the house with a 
hearty salutation and a kind word — without 
a chilling or stately reserve — and if you tell 
them to " allow you to sit down among 
them as they are," without their running off 
to " dress," or without subjecting you to 
formal frigidities of the parlor, you will 
soon be perfectly at home with them. 

When you get into frank, friendly conver- 
sation with them, do your best to draw 
them out. Encourage them to talk about 
the Sabbath services ; the truths preached ; 
the difficulties raised or allayed ; the light 
afforded, or the comforts given. Encourage 
them to speak of any special effects of the 
word upon any of themselves. In this way 
you discover whether you are really inter- 
esting your auditors, whether you are mak- 



32 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

ing yourself understood, and whether your 
heavenly messages are producing spiritual 
results. Fishing for compliments is too 
contemptible to deserve even a rebuke; but 
it does cheer a minister's heart to be told : 
" Your sermon has helped me all this week ; " 
or, " Your discourse cleared up a difficult 
passage for me ; " or, " I made up my mind 
last Sunday that I will try to serve God." 
Nothing delights me so much as to have a 
child talk to me about my sermons ; for I 
have tried to adhere to a fixed rule — never 
to deliver a discourse which did not contain 
at least something in it which would attract 
and take hold of every average child in the 
house. Why is it that so many ministers of 
Christ forget Christ's own example in mak- 
ing truth simple, picturesque and intelligible 
to the young and the ignorant? 

When calling on your parishioners, frown 
down all attempts at gossip, and seal your 
ears against malicious scandal. If one per- 
son has a charge against a fellow-member, 
and you see that an enmity may be engen- 



PASTORAL VISITS. 33 

dered, you may win the benedictions pro- 
nounced on " the peace-maker," by your 
good offices, an'd so prevent a pimple from 
becoming a festering sore. The true time 
to take hold of a quarrel is in its first stages. 
Of course, if the way opens, you will pray 
with the families you visit ; but they will 
commonly wait for you to offer to do 
so. 

If any one in the house asks or needs a 
personal conversation about his or her soul's 
welfare, by all means endeavor that it be 
private. The timid will never unlock their 
heart-troubles in the presence of others. 
Sometimes a case will occur which will re- 
quire several visits, and much probing con- 
versation. Do not begrudge the time. To 
save one soul is joy enough for an angel ; 
and there is no school in practical theology 
like dealing with a soul in its struggles and 
temptations. I hope you will study thor- 
oughly Dr. Spencer's unrivalled " Pastor's 
Sketches." He was the Bunyan of Brook- 
lyn ; the secret of his success was that he 
3 



34 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

always aimed to co-operate with the Holy 
Spirit. 

When in your pastoral rounds, you will 
sometimes have the opportunity to do more 
execution in a single talk than in an hun- 
dred sermons. I once spent an evening in a 
vain endeavor to bring a man to a decision 
for Christ. Before I left he took me up- 
stairs to the nursery to show me his beauti- 
ful children in their cribs. I said to him 
tenderly : " Do you mean that these sweet 
children shall never have any help from 
their father to get to heaven ? " He was 
deeply moved, and in a month became an 
active member of my church. For twenty- 
five years that man has been glued to me ; 
infinitely better, he has steadily glorified his 
Saviour. 

On a cold winter evening I made my first 
call on a rich merchant in New York. As 
I left his door, and the piercing gale swept 
in, I said, " What an awful night for the 
poor!" He went back, and bringing to me 
a roll of bank bills, he said, " Please hand 



PASTORAL VISITS. 35 

these, for me, to the poorest people you 
know." After a few days I wrote to him 
the grateful thanks of the poor whom his 
bounty had relieved, and added : " How is it 
that a man who is so kind to his fellow- 
creatures, has always been so unkind to his 
Saviour as to refuse Him his heart? " That 
sentence touched him in the core. He sent 
for me to come and talk with him, and 
speedily gave himself to Christ. He has 
been a most useful Christian ever since. 
But he told me that I was the first person 
who had talked to him about his soul in 
nearly twenty years ! One hour of pastoral 
work did more for that man than the pulpit 
efforts of a lifetime. 




CHAPTER III. 

VISITATION OF THE SICK — FUNERAL SER- 
VICES. 

T is a duty which every family in 
your congregation, owes to their 
pastor as well as to themselves that 
they should inform you promptly of every 
case of serious sickness. Nor can you be 
too prompt in responding to such a call. 
However busy you may be in preparing a 
sermon or in any commendable occupation, 
everything else must be laid aside ; a pastor 
should be as quick to hasten to the room of 
sickness, as an ambulance is to reach a 
scene of disaster. You may find that your 
parishioner has been suddenly attacked with 
dangerous illness and that even your en- 
trance into the sick room may be agitating 



VISITS TO THE SICK— FUNERALS. 37 

to the patient ; at such times you will need 
to use all the tact and delicacy and discre- 
tion that you can command. Do not need- 
lessly endanger a sick body by your efforts 
to guide or to console the immortal spirit 
that may be hovering on the brink of the 
eternal world. Let your words be few, 
calm, tender, and every syllable you speak 
point towards Jesus. Whoever the. sufferer 
may be — saint or sinner — his failing vision 
should be directed to " no man save Jesus 
only." Let the prayer also which you offer 
be brief, and in the tenderest language in 
which you can breathe out a fervid suppli- 
cation to the God of all grace. It is not 
commonly the office of a pastor to tell a 
patient that his, or her disease is assuredly a 
fatal one ; but if you know that death is 
near, then in the name of the Master, be 
faithful as well as tender. 

There are many cases of extreme and 
critical illness, when the presence of even 
the most loving pastor may be an unwise 
intrusion. An excellent Christian lady who 



38 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

had been twice apparently at the brink of 
death said to me, " never enter the room of 
a person who is extremely low, unless the 
person urgently requests you, or unless a 
spiritual necessity compels it. You have no 
idea how the sight of a new face agitates 
the sufferer, or how you may unconsciously 
and unintentionally rob that sufferer of some 
of the little life that is fluttering in that 
feeble frame." I felt grateful to the good 
woman for her advice ; and have often acted 
upon it accordingly, when the family have 
unwisely importuned me to do what would 
be of more harm than benefit. On some 
occasions when I have found a sick room 
crowded by well-meaning but needless in- 
truders, I have taken the liberty to " put 
them all forth " as our Master did from that 
chamber in which the daughter of Jairus was 
in the death-slumber. 

A large portion of the time and attention 
which you bestow upon the sick will be de- 
manded by chronic sufferers — who have been 
confined to their beds of weariness for many 



VISITS TO THE SICK— FUNERALS. 39 

months, or years. Whoever you may neg- 
lect, do not neglect them. Visit them as 
often as possible. Bring into their rooms 
the sunshine of a cheerful countenance, and 
a morsel of fresh manna from heaven that 
shall have the taste of honey. Some of 
those bed-ridden sufferers are " prisoners of 
Jesus Christ," who can do you quite as 
much good as you can do for them. What 
eloquent sermons they can preach to you on 
the beauty of submissive patience, and on 
the supporting power of the Everlasting 
Arm ! Such interviews strengthen your 
own faith, soften your own heart, and in- 
fuse into it the spirit of Him who " took our 
infirmities and bare our sickness." Mc- 
Cheyne of Dundee said that before preach- 
ing on the Sabbath he sometimes visited 
some parishioner who might be lying ex- 
tremely low, for he found it good " to take 
a look over the verged 

The hour you spend in the abodes of sick- 
ness and of sorrow will often subject your 
nerves, and your sympathetic sensibilities to 



40 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

a pretty severe strain ; and from such trials 
you must not shrink. But the most diffi- 
cult and delicate part of your pastoral duties 
will be the conducting of funeral-services. 
At such trying services too many minis- 
ters sadly fail ; some from want of sense, 
and some from want of sensibility. The 
first class offend by their unwise utterances ; 
the second offend by their utter lack of 
sympathy ; to them a funeral is as " profes- 
sional " an affair as it is to the undertaker. 

In making the arrangements for funeral- 
services, the first persons to be consulted are 
the bereaved family ; their wishes must be 
respected. Unless in a few and rare cases 
where public honors are to be paid to public 
men, the last services will be of a domestic 
character; and the simpler they are the 
better. I always love to see the kindred 
occupy the same apartment in which the 
form of the beloved one lies sleeping ; it 
seems far more affectionate to sit beside 
their dead, than to leave a parent, a wife or 
a child to be surrounded by chance-gathered 



VISITS TO THE SICK— FUNERALS. 4 1 

neighbors or strangers. The pastor should 
also, if possible, stand close beside the 
mourning family, and not be thrust away 
into another part of the dwelling. We are 
often stationed upon a stairway in the hall, 
with nothing to look at but a blank wall, or 
the heads of the people congregated below 
us. This detracts from the naturalness of 
the service, and puts us, as it were, out of 
sympathy with those whom we desire to 
comfort. We are affected through the eye, 
and the sight of the slumbering dead, and 
the sorrowing kindred is apt to stir the fount 
of feeling in our own hearts. Cold formality 
is the unpardonable sin in the house of 
mourning. No matter what suffering it may 
cost us, or however severe may be the strain 
upon our nerves, we pastors must not shirk 
the suffering. It is no place to harden the 
heart or to retreat into a frigid formality. 
A funeral is a heart-service ; let your own 
heart have its way. The closer you follow 
your own best instincts, the fewer blunders 
will you commit. Put yourself in the place 



42 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

of the mourner, and then speak as your feel- 
ings dictate. 

So far have I aimed to carry out this 
principle that I rarely prepare any funeral 
address. I store my mind with the chief 
facts and circumstances of the occasion, and 
then allow the heart to utter its own words 
of sympathy and consolation. Set speeches 
beside a coffin are icicles. Stale truisms 
about death are often a solemn imper- 
tinence. Elaborate addresses are usually as 
much out of place as at a communion table. 
Simplicity and tenderness are the prime 
essentials. Grief is always simple, and 
bleeding hearts must be touched tenderly. 
Honest eulogy of those who have lived 
nobly and for God's glory is often a duty to 
the living as well as a deserved tribute to 
the one who has fallen asleep in Jesus. 
The instincts of a minister's heart ought to 
tell ^lim how much to say ; but let him not 
disown or dishonor the grace of God that 
dwelt in the life just ended. The last ex- 
periences of the last hours of the departed 



VISITS TO THE SICK— FUNERALS. 43 

are sometimes full of eloquent inspirations, 
and we ought to rehearse them to cheer the 
faith of the survivors. A sudden death is 
in itself a tremendous sermon ; and we may 
enforce the solemn lesson, if we do it dis- 
creetly and lovingly. Grant that but few 
persons have ever been converted by funeral 
addresses ; we should none the less speak 
in the same direction that the Almighty 
God is speaking. While comforting the be- 
reaved we may incidentally gain a strong 
hold on some unconverted souls, and thus 
the way be opened to lead them to Christ. 

No funeral service is adequate or proper 
in which there is not a large use of appro- 
priate Scripture — and also the singing of 
one or more hymns. Sometimes an elab- 
orate musical performance is provided that 
would better befit a concert-room. Noth- 
ing goes quite so close to the heart as the 
tender and tearful singing of some sw,eet 
hymn like "Rock of Ages," or "Jesus, 
Lover of my Soul," or " Abide with me," or 
"Asleep in Jesus." A hymn sinks deeper 



44 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

into the soul than a discourse. Tears are a 
blessed escape-valve for pent-up overpower- 
ing grief, and the more freely they are 
evoked during the last services of affection, 
the greater will be relief to suffering hearts. 
Pray that God may make you a " son of 
consolation," while you are standing be- 
tween the living and the dead. Yet your 
office as a comforter does not end when the 
silent form has been committed to the 
bosom of mother-earth. The hardest strain 
upon the bereaved will come when the obse- 
quies are all over and the crowd have gone, 
and the sorrowing ones come back to the 
empty house and home and hearts. Then 
you will be needed most ; and then will it 
be your office to guide the trembling hands 
and point the weeping eyes to that Friend 
that sticketh closer than a brother. May 
the dear Master give you grace to speak a 
" word in season to them that are weary," 
and to lift many a sobbing, suffering soul up 
into the sweet sunshine that streams from 
the heavenly Throne ! 




CHAPTER IV. 

THE TREATMENT OF THE TROUBLED. 

LARGE part of every Christian 
minister's work must be given to 
those who are in trouble. The 
careless are to be awakened by faithful, 
pungent proclamation of the sinfulness of 
sin and the certainty of its endless retribu- 
tion ; the inquirers are to be directed, and 
God's people to be fed with their rations of 
solid food. But every week brings before 
his pulpit, or under his eye in pastoral visi- 
tation, some of that numerous class who 
need a lift or a helping hand. Bruised 
hearts are to be bound up ; feeble knees to 
be strengthened ; a word in season to be 
spoken to the weary or the weak or the 
woebegone. Tonic sermons are always in 



46 HO W TO BE A PASTOR. 

order, the stronger the better ; some of our 
flock get terribly run down by Saturday 
night and need fresh infusion of iron in the 
blood. There are two sorts of trouble that 
demand kind, careful and wise treatment. 

(1.) The first sort belongs to those who 
are in the fold of Christ. All true Chris- 
tians are not happy Christians. While 
" Great Heart " and " Hopeful " go striding 
and singing on their way to the celestial 
city, poor Mr. Despondency and Mr. Little- 
faith and Sister Much-afraid hobble along 
painfully and need a helping hand pretty 
often. It takes all sorts of Christians 
to make an average church. Some are 
constitutionally despondent about every- 
thing. It is not easy to change natural 
temperament ; let such travel the straight 
road conscientiously, even if their heads 
often droop like the bulrush ; they will 
find heaven's sunshine and song all the 
more welcome when they get there. Un- 
easy as this kind of Christians often are 



THE TREA TMENT OF THE TROUBLED. 47 

about themselves, they seldom give much 
uneasiness to their pastor. It is the self- 
confident, dash-ahead professor that we are 
oftener anxious about. Another class owe 
their despondency to ill health. The flesh 
and the spirit lie mighty close together, 
and they act and react upon each other. 
That ripe old saint, Dr. Archibald Alex- 
ander, suffered from such a peculiar nervous 
disorder that he was always gloomy when 
an east wind blew. Dyspepsia puts some 
of Christ's choice ones into the dumps ; a 
dose of medicine or a bottle of Saratoga 
water will bring more relief than a prayer or 
a Bible text. The saddest case of religious 
despair I ever encountered came from 
physical disease, and the lady was shocked 
when I told her so. Yet as soon as the 
torpid liver was set right, her soul was 
filled with light and gladness. 

But the most frequent cases that the 
pastor has to deal with are those who are 
suffering under some trying dispensation of 
Providence. Disappointment has shattered 



*k 



48 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

their schemes, or pecuniary adversities have 
crippled them, or death has smitten' the 
four corners of their house, and their hearts 
are breaking. To try to stanch the tears 
of persons who are in deep grief is a folly, 
even if it were possible. Tears are the 
safety-valve of grief, and often keep an 
agonized heart from bursting ; let them 
flow. When nature has had her way, grace 
may begin to work. In dealing with the 
afflicted — from whatever cause it come — we 
must treat them always as scholars in God's 
school of suffering. The temptation of the 
devil to such sufferers is to get them into a 
quarrel with God ; if he cannot do that he 
tries to break their lanterns and leave them 
in the dark. As long as a Christian's 
anchor holds he can ride out any hurricane 
of trouble ; but if his cable that fastens 
him to Christ is cut he goes helplessly on 
the rocks. 

The true way to look at affliction is as a 
prime part of a Christian's education. The 
only relief I have ever found myself when 



THE TREATMENT OF THE TROUBLED. 



49 



under sharp bereavement was in the Heaven- 
ordered certainty that this world is only a 
preparatory school for the better and, the 
endless life beyond. Terribly hard lessons 
in " division " and " subtraction " are often 
assigned us ; we are put on the back 
benches and the lowest, when we fancy our- 
selves entitled to the highest. Our text- 
books are often stained with tears, and our 
loving Teacher often uses the rod. The 
strongest Christians are made by a costly edu- 
cation. The very word "disciple" signi- 
fies a little learner, and the chief object of all 
discipline is to develop character. The core 
of Christianity is obedience to our Divine 
Master, and the highest attainment is to let 
him have his own way. Often when the hard 
lesson starts the tears and makes the heart 
ache, the blessed Teacher comes close and 
whispers in our ears, " As many as I love I 
chasten ; no chastening for the present 
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous ; never- 
theless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable 
fruit of righteousness." It is the "after- 
4 



50 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

ward " that vindicates God's dealings. 
Noble old Richard Baxter exclaimed after a 
life of severe toil and suffering, " O God, I 
thank thee for a bodily discipline of eight 
and fifty years ! " Out of the school of 
trial the Master brings his ripest, holiest 
pupils. The best pruned vines yield the 
richest clusters ; the brightest gold comes 
out of the hottest furnace. A glorious pro- 
motion will it be — when the life-school is 
over — that they whose hearts have ached 
and whose eyes have so often wept, will be 
graduated into the magnificent inheritance 
of the Father's house ! 

Two things are chiefly to be aimed -at in 
the treatment of desponding or bereaved 
Christians. The first is to get them out of 
themselves, and the other is to get them 
into active service for their Master. The 
tides of inward feeling are in danger of 
stagnating into a fen of bitter waters. 
Sluice them off, and turn them into streams 
of beneficence to others. A sorely bereaved 
lady once said to me, " If I could not keep 



THE TREA TMENT OF THE TROUBLED. 5 I 

my mind occupied in Christian labor for 
the poor and elsewhere, I should go crazy 
with grief." Useful occupation is both a 
tonic to faith and a sedative to sorrow. If 
troubles drive us to toils for our Master, 
then the useful toils will in turn, drive 
away many of the troubles. 

(2.) There is a second sort of troubles to 
be dealt with which belong to those who 
are outside of Christ's fold, and who find 
obstacles in the way of their getting in. 
They are plagued with doubts and unbe- 
lief. A careful discrimination must be 
made between the wilful skeptics who will 
not believe, and the involuntary ones who 
find it hard to believe. This latter class 
merit the kindest and most gentle treat- 
ment, such as Jesus showed to the father of 
the demoniac-child, and to doubting 
Thomas. We should aim to discover just 
what it is that they find it difficult to be- 
lieve. Are they puzzled and perplexed 
with such mysteries as the nature of the 



52 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

Trinity, or the doctrine of election, or the 
existence of sin in the world, or any other 
hard nut that human ingenuity cannot 
crack? Let all such mysteries alone ; they 
are an overmatch for the mightiest brains 
ever created ; the secret things belong unto 
God. Happily our salvation does not de- 
pend on unlocking mysteries. 

" I find it hard to believe in Christ," 
says the troubled inquirer, when he is 
pushed to the sticking point. " Have you 
ever honestly tried to do it in the way that 
Christ commands?" That is the query 
which we should press on such a person. 
Saving faith in Christ is not an abstract 
opinion, it is an act ; it is putting yourself 
into connection with the Saviour. Have 
you with empty hand grasped hold on him 
in honest prayer ? Have you tried sin- 
cerely to follow him by taking a single step 
to please him ? Have you endeavored to 
keep a solitary commandment? Have you, 
in short, ever obeyed him ? If not, then you 
must die a doubter; for the only way to be 



THE TREATMENT OF THE TROUBLED. 53 

saved by the Lord Jesus is to do what he 
commands. 

To get a troubled sinner out of the region 
of theory into the region of practice, out 
of doctrines into duties, is a prime point 
gained. No one is ever troubled about 
believing in Christ as soon as he begins 
to obey Christ. Knowing comes by doing. 
The loving Saviour's hand is immediately 
stretched out to save every one who leaps 
overboard from the boat of sin and strug- 
gles towards HIM. Unbelief stays in the 
boat and goes down ; faith leaps out and 
trusts. As Spurgeon pithily says, " The 
way to do a thing is — to do it." 




CHAPTER V. 

HOW TO HAVE A WORKING CHURCH. 

HE pulpit services of a minister oc- 
cupy only a few hours on each 
Sabbath ; his duties as a pastor 
extend over all the other days of the week. 
He may be a very eloquent pulpiteer and 
yet have an inactive church. Of some plain 
preachers it may be said as Dr. James W. 
Alexander once said to me of that noble 
and admirable pastor Dr. Asa D. Smith — " I 
envy Doctor Smith more than any pastor in 
N ew York, for he has the art of setting all his 
people to work, and of keeping them at it." 
That is a great art ; how is it to be acquired ? 
A few suggestions that I have gathered dur- 
ing forty years or more, may be of value to 
beginners in the ministry. 



m 



HOW TO HAVE A WORKING CHURCH. 55 

(1.) If you expect to have an active church, 
you must be a wide-awake, industrious man 
yourself. An indolent pastor is apt to have 
an indolent congregation. If you are found 
smoking on your lounge or dawdling away 
your time over light literature ; if you are 
seen oftener out driving for pleasure or 
sauntering in book-stores and picture-galler- 
ies, than you are in visiting your flock, then 
your people will soon hold you cheap and 
rightly conclude that they have a lazy min- 
ister. They will come to the same conclu- 
sion if you are ready to put into your pul- 
pit any man who comes along in a clerical 
coat. Never cheapen your own pulpit. Go 
to it as often as possible, even if through 
unavoidable circumstances, you have been 
prevented from preparing a " finished dis- 
course." An imperfect sermon, if well satu- 
rated with prayer and sent home with fervor 
may do good execution. Veteran pastors 
will testify that often the discourses from 
which they had expected the least, have ac- 
complished the most. 



$6 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

Recreate mind and body with easy occupa- 
tions on Monday. Get at your sermon on 
Tuesday — the minister's best day — and 
never commit the idiotic sin of writing a 
sermon on Saturday evening. Make the 
utmost of those hours when your mind 
works like a trip-hammer and then put upon 
paper your best thoughts— whether you ever 
carry the paper into the pulpit or not. Use 
the forenoons for study, your afternoons for 
pastoral visitation and your evenings for 
meetings or for reading, recreation or social 
purposes. Sleep as soundly as possible all 
night if you want to keep your congregation 
awake on Sunday. The Irishman's rule for 
good sleeping was "to pay attintion to it." 

The men who live the longest, and do the 
most effective work, are commonly good 
sleepers. If they cannot secure enough at 
night, they make it up during the day. 
When a man who has so much strain on 
his brain and his sensibilities as a pastor has, 
goes to his bedroom, he should school him- 
self to the habit of dismissing all thoughts 



HOW TO HAVE A WORKING CHURCH. 57 

about outside matters. If this cost him 
some difficulty, he should pray for Divine 
help to do it. Too many ministers toil at 
their sermons until eleven or twelve o'clock, 
and then retire with throbbing heads to their 
sleepless beds. The man who invented 
" midnight oil " deserves a purgatory of end- 
less nightmare. My own rule is never to 
touch a sermon by lamplight. One hour in 
the morning is worth five at night. 

I have already exhorted you to learn the 
geography of your parish thoroughly, and to 
keep yourself in daily intercourse with your 
people. Do not have any " running-places " 
or favorite resorts ; and don't let anybody in 
the congregation own you. While making 
your pastoral visits, show an interest in what 
your people are doing, and then repay your- 
self by making them interested in what you 
are doing. Discuss freely the affairs of 
the church with all your families; commend 
those who are most prompt at the devo- 
tional meetings, and most alert in serving the 
Master ; and kindly chide the delinquents. 



58 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

Let them know that you miss them. A 
shepherd's " crook " must often be used with 



(2.) However active you may be, it is 
vitally important that you should develop 
the activities of your church-members, and 
direct them into fields of usefulness. There 
is a vast amount of latent power in most of 
our congregations ; and in large churches 
there is a tendency to say, " Oh, you have 
enough to do the work without me." As 
small farms are usually the best tilled, so 
small churches are often the best worked. 
There must be leaders in every church ; but 
don't try to push into prominence conceited 
people who happen to have large purses or 
social conspicuousness. The best workers 
are oftenest those of humblest social rank ; 
and no man or woman should be prominent 
unless they- have earned their position by 
consecration to the Master's service. Try to 
discover what a man is best fitted for, and 
then set him at it. When a new member 



HOW TO HAVE A WORKING CHURCH 59 

comes into your church — either by conver- 
sion or transmission from another church — 
do not let him settle down into a mere " pas- 
senger." Endeavor to enlist him at once 
into some line of usefulness. There will be 
some conceited and presumptous folk who 
thrust themselves into positions for which 
they have no capacity ; but such very soon 
find their level. I have generally found 
that ardent, zealous Christians, even when 
sometimes indiscreet, accomplish a great 
deal more than the over-prudent, phlegmatic 
sort. Good Dr. Brainard used to say, " I 
whip up the fast horses, for there are plenty 
that don't pull a pound." 

(3.) Keep your eye on all the operations of 
the church; not to do the trustee's work, or 
the elder's work, or the Sunday-school super- 
intendent's work, or the class-leader's work, 
but to see that they do it. A meddlesome 
minister may be as mischievous as an idle 
one ; yet oversight and wise counsel are your 
prerogative. Always attend your prayer- 



60 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

meetings, both for your own spiritual profit 
and also to put honor on the most vital ser- 
vice, next to the preaching of the Word. 
As long as you have competent laymen who 
can lead the meeting, commit the leadership 
of the service to them ; this will develop 
them, and relieve you of " over much speak- 
ing." Ministers may talk too often ; and if 
a pastor is especially gifted, there is danger 
that the church may become a one-man 
power machine. Mr. Beecher used to com- 
plain that his people were too slow to take 
part in his prayer-meetings ; and one cause 
of this was that he took so large a part in 
them himself. No church can ever be strong 
unless the strain is put on their own sinews ; 
there is a place for the Aquilas and Priscil- 
las, as well as for Paul. A timely word from 
the pastor may help a prayer-meeting, but it 
is the people's service, not his. 

(4.) As the bottle is the chronic curse of 
every community, the church of God cannot 
ignore it. Every minister ought to preach 



HOW TO HAVE A V/ORKING CHURCH. 6 1 

and practice entire abstinence from the in- 
toxicating cup ; and every Christian church 
ought to have a Temperance wheel in its 
machinery. Therefore it is wise to organize 
a society which shall not be a political or 
partisan "annex," but a part of the religious 
movement of your church, under the super- 
vision of the Pastor. The titTe to member- 
ship should be the avowed practice of total 
abstinence from all intoxicants ; and I still 
believe in the expediency of signing a 
pledge to thus abstain. A brief constitution, 
an efficient President, and Board of Mana- 
gers, a package of pledges and a good com- 
mittee to secure proper speakers are the 
main requisites for such a society. The 
public meetings should be free ; and a col- 
lection taken up will meet the current ex- 
penses. Such an organization has been a 
source of social and spiritual blessings in my 
own and in many other congregations. 

(5.) Drive every wheel in your machinery 
to its utmost power, but don't have more 



62 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

wheels than power. Widen your activities 
as fast as you have men and money to 
propel them. Organize your young people 
into an association, with a weekly meeting 
for prayer and training in Christian work. 
Organize your women into missionary socie- 
ties and other benevolent labors. Do not 
overwork any one department to the sacri- 
fice of others, or run your own hobbies to 
death. Feed your people with the solid 
meat of the Word, if you want them to be 
strong for work ; and then fire them by 
constant pointing them to Jesus and pray- 
ing for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 
Keep Christ in the foreground. Come to 
your flock every Sabbath with Jesus in your 
heart and Jesus on your tongue. The only 
permanent power that can propel any 
church is the power from on high ; and 
that church which is mighty in prayer is 
the one that is always mighty in work. 




CHAPTER VI. 

TRAINING CONVERTS. 

VERY large proportion of mem- 
bers in our churches count for very- 
little except upon the muster-roll. 
When that roll is called for practical service 
they do not answer, " Here ! " The lament- 
able statistics of contributions show how 
small are the pecuniary gifts of those coma- 
tose Christians. The thin attendance at 
prayer-meetings in too many churches, the 
fewness of those who take part in them, or 
in any kind of personal effort for souls and 
the spread of Christ's kingdom, are illustra- 
tions of the same fact. A large portion of 
the power in the church is a latent power. 
The stream is diverted upon the water- 
wheels of the world, or else runs to waste ; 



64 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

less than half of it turned upon spiritual 
machinery. One reason, among many, is 
that new converts are not trained into 
Christian activity from the start. 

Many converts to Christ are still in the 
morning of life, although they may have 
outgrown the Sunday-school. Under thirty 
years of age the habits of individuals are 
easily moulded ; and during the thirty years 
after that, they ought to be set to work for 
their Master. The true time to enlist a 
Christian in active service is when he enlists 
in the visible army of Christ by a public 
confession of Christ. If a new convert does 
not open his lips in some devotional meeting 
during the first thirty days, he is apt to 
remain tongue-tied for life. If he or she is 
not called into some sort of service, then 
doth he or she become a drone in the hive. 
One of the most effectual methods that I 
know of for training new converts is by the 
agency of a "Young People's Association," 
organized in the church and under the over- 
sight of the pastor. There has been such 



TRAINING CONVERTS. 65 

an association in the church which I had 
the honor to serve, for about twenty-five 
years. Sometimes its membership runs as 
high as seven hundred. 

It embraces three classes of members — 
active, associate, and honorary. Any mem- 
ber of our church between the ages of fif- 
teen and forty-five may be chosen an 
" active " member of the association. Any 
person of good moral character may be- 
come an associate member, entitled to all 
privileges except that of holding office. 
The fee of membership is fifty cents annu- 
ally, and ten dollars secures a membership 
for life. The objects of the Association 
are to hold weekly devotional meetings, to 
promote social intercourse, to visit the sick, 
to search out and bring in young people, to 
labor for their conversion, and to do what- 
ever will develop the spiritual life of new 
converts. There is a " Devotional Com- 
mittee," which has charge of the Monday 
evening meeting, which is held in the 
houses of the congregation. This com- 
5 



66 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

mittee must select the house, have it an- 
nounced from the pulpit, and see to it that 
the camp-stools and hymn-books are taken 
to the said house in season. 

That meeting lasts just one hour. The 
leader of the service is allowed to occupy 
fifteen minutes in opening the exercises. 
As soon as possible after a person is con- 
verted he is requested to take charge of the 
meeting ; this breaks him into the harness 
at once. No one is allowed to occupy 
more than three minutes in an address or a 
prayer. At the close of the service a half- 
hour is spent in giving introductions and in 
social intercourse. In pleasant weather we 
expect the house to be crowded ; but we 
have seldom had the spiritual thermometer 
so high as to pack a house on a stormy 
evening. Only a pleasure-party or a politi- 
cal caucus can do that. 

In these social meetings all are made 
welcome, and new converts are encouraged 
to take part. There is a freedom felt in a 
private house which cannot be felt by a be- 



TRAINING CONVERTS. 67 

ginner in the public lecture-room of the 
church. Most persons of modesty and 
common sense are apt to feel a certain diffi- 
dence in speaking or praying for the first 
time. Some of our most effective speakers 
made an unpromising start, and had one or 
two break-downs before they could, as the 
oarsmen say, " pull themselves together." 
But it is not simply a public speaking and 
praying service into which the Association 
trains its members. They are organized 
for various kinds of work. There is a Visit- 
ing Committee to look after the sick. 
There is an Entertainment Committee who 
arrange music, readings, and other pleasant 
features for a monthly sociable — to which 
the whole congregation are invited. The 
monthly entertainments commonly crowd 
the lecture-room or the Sabbath-school hall. 
There is a Temperance Committee which 
oversees that branch of Christian labor. 
Recently a meeting of our young ladies 
who are interested in this blessed work 
was very largely attended. For years we 



68 HO W TO BE A PASTOR. 

had an efficient corps of tract-distributers in 
the Association ; but the removal from town 
of its moving spirits has left this depart- 
ment rather feeble at present. There is 
also a " Relief Committee " for cases of 
poverty, and another one which provides 
flowers every Sabbath for the pulpit and 
then sends them to the rooms of the 
sick. 

I have entered more into the details of 
this Association because it has yielded such 
precious spiritual fruits. Its graduates are 
all over the West as active Christians ; some 
of them have entered the gospel ministry. 
It has been a training-school for converts, 
and as such deserves a place beside the 
Sabbath-school in the affections and prayers 
of the church. I should almost as soon 
think of conducting a church without the 
regular officers as without this educational 
institution for new-born souls. It helps to 
solve several such questions as — how to de- 
velop the lay element ; how to cultivate so- 
cial intercourse ; how to save the young for 



TRAINING CONVERTS. 69 

Christ and keep them out of the clutch of 
the devil. In the apostolic churches the new 
material was put to immediate use. That 
was one reason why the Word grew mightily 
and prevailed. If the machinery in those 
days was simpler than now, still there was 
organized effort, and that was built on per- 
sonal consecration to Christ. Give us but 
that, and we shall have few drones in the 
hive. Conversion without consecration sig- 
nifies birth without growth — blossoms with- 
out fruit. 

I have drawn upon my personal observa- 
tion in this outline of the work done by the 
Young People's Association of the Lafayette 
Avenue Church ; but the same style of work 
is being done in many hundreds of churches 
by the admirable " Societies of Christian 
Endeavor." Every new convert should en- 
roll himself or herself in such a society if it 
is within reach. Wherever the circum- 
stances permit I also cordially commend the 
" Young Men's Christian Association " as a 
most excellent training-school in the service 



JO HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

of Christ. There need be no clash or 
collision between the "Y. M. C. A." 
and the organization in each individual 
church. 




CHAPTER VII. 

PRAYER-MEETINGS. 

HE prayer-meeting may fairly claim 
to be regarded as second only to 
the pulpit in the spiritual life of a 
Christian church. Some would give it the 
first place ; for while many churches have 
managed to keep alive without a pastor, 
none are likely to preserve their vitality and 
vigor without a regular gathering of the 
flock for public devotion. Certainly the 
prayer-meeting is a very fair thermometer ; 
a cold prayer-meeting marks a cold church. 
It is at once the cause, and the effect of 
spiritual declension. On the other hand, a 
well attended, well conducted prayer-meet- 
ing is both a joy to the pastor, and a well- 
spring of blessings to the people. It is 



J 2 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

pre-eminently th& people s service ; and dur- 
ing nearly the whole of my ministry it has 
been my custom to entrust the charge of 
the service to the elders, who are the repre- 
sentatives of the congregation. Each elder 
takes the leadership of the weekly meeting, 
in alphabetical order. He selects the topic 
to be discussed and must see to it that the 
topic is duly announced from the pulpit on 
the previous Sabbath. For the right man- 
agement of the meeting he is responsible ; 
and he should make thorough preparation 
for the solemn charge committed to him. 

If there be any religious service that 
ought to be delivered from frigid formal- 
ity it is the family-gathering of Christ's 
disciples at the mercy seat. " Cut and 
dried " addresses are out of place. Long 
stereotyped petitions are a weariness to the 
flesh. A good rule for the pulpit, and an 
equally good one for the weekly devotional 
service is — have something to say, and then 
say it ! Those who come to the service 
filled with the Spirit, are likely to overflow 



PRAYER-MEETINGS. . J^ 

in pithy, inspiring exhortations, or in fer- 
vent, well-ordered petitions. 

It commonly requires the presence of 
several sensible people to make a good 
prayer-meeting ; but it is in the power of 
one or two weak-headed and troublesome 
people to mar it most wretchedly. Certain 
persons of this sort will come into a meet- 
ing as moths fly into a candle. They stick 
there like the moths ; but, instead of being 
scorched to death, they nearly extinguish 
the meeting. Now, it is the imperative 
duty of the pastor or of the conductor of 
the service to deal with such brethren most 
frankly.. If self-conceit makes the brother 
so troublesome, then that self-conceit 
should be kindly rebuked. If he offend 
ignorantly, then his ignorance should be 
kindly corrected. The man who has not 
enough sense or conscience to take a wise 
hint gratefully will never be of any value 
to a devotional meeting. Some good peo- 
ple mar a meeting without intending it. 
For example, one fluent brother gets to 



74 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

monopolizing the time by the inordinate 
frequency or the inordinate length of his 
utterances. I once had an excellent church- 
member who spoke regularly at every 
prayer service (and it requires a very full 
man to do that profitably). I frankly told 
him that he was crowding others out of 
their rights ; and also suggested that he 
might better address the Almighty in peti- 
tion sometimes, instead of always addressing 
his neighbors in exhortation. He accepted 
the hint kindly and reformed. Some good 
speakers would be listened to more eagerly 
if they relieved their talks with more fre- 
quent " flashes of silence." 

A prayer-meeting is sometimes marred 
by aimlessness, both in the addresses to the 

Lord and to each other. Brother A 

talks about faith, and Brother B about 

the pestilence at Memphis, and Brother 

C about — no one can exactly tell what ; 

and the prayers go off about as fairly at 
random as the squibs which boys fire on the 
Fourth of July. One method of correcting 



PR A YER-MEE TINGS. 7 5 

this aimless diffuseness, and of compacting 
the service, is to select and announce be- 
forehand some profitable topic for discus- 
sion. This may be even selected by the 
leader and announced on the previous Sab- 
bath. Then everybody has some definite 
object to aim at in his remarks. Then the 
whole service hangs together like a fleece 
of wool, and there is spiritual instruction 
afforded, as well as a kindling of devotional 
feeling by a study of God's truth. If a 
company of Christians will carefully discuss 
such a practical topic as " Obeying Con- 
science," or such a passage as the twenty- 
third psalm, or the parable of. the wheat and 
the tares, they cannot but be instructed and 
strengthened. Food for devotion will be 
furnished and both the praying and the 
speaking will be directed "at a mark." Of 
course, this arrangement need not hoop a 
meeting as with iron, or forbid any one from 
presenting some especial request or some 
matter of immediate interest that lies near 
his heart. The moment that any system of 



76 BOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

management kills the freedom of the family 
gathering at the mercy-seat, then the system 
should be abated. A cast-iron rigidity may 
be as fatal to the meeting as aimless verbi- 
age. If the Spirit of God is present with 
great power, there is no danger from either 
quarter. Wherefore the most effectual cure 
for an invalid prayer-meeting is to open 
the lips and the hearts in fervent supplica- 
tion for the incoming of the Holy Spirit. 
There may be cases in which a meeting 
is seriously disturbed by the unwelcome 
utterances of persons whose character is 
more than doubtful, and who desire to gain 
a cheap reputation for piety by taking part 
in prayer or exhortations. Such trans- 
gressors should be frankly informed that 
they had better remain silent until they are 
ready to open their lips in honest confes- 
sion. Mr, Moody pithily says that " a man 
who pays fifty cents on the dollar when he 
could pay one hundred cents on the dollar 
had better keep still.*' To confess flagrant 
wrong-doing in a social meeting is no easy 



PRAYER-MEETINGS. J? 

thing ; but I once heard a man do it in a 
way that not only thrilled the assembly, 
but brought a rich blessing on his own soul 
and reinstated him in the position which he 
had lost. Sincere confession to God or to 
our fellow-men fills a prayer-room with an 
odor as sweet as that of the broken alabas- 
ter-box in the house of Simon the leper. 
But there is a species of wordy and windy 
parading of one's own "awful guiltiness," 
which only nauseates the auditors and can- 
not impose upon God. It is a terrible thing 
to tell lies in the name of the Lord. What- 
ever else be the faults of our prayer ser- 
vices, let them be delivered from pious fraud 
and solemn falsehood. 

Brevity should be rigorously enforced in 
the prayer-meeting, except in those rare 
cases where an individual is speaking so ev- 
idently under the inspiration of the Divine 
Wisdom that it would be a sin to apply the 
gag-law. Five minutes is commonly long 
enough for an address and three minutes 
for a prayer. The model for our petitions 



yS HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

which our Lord has taught us, does not con- 
sume half a minute ; and even that wonder- 
ful intercessory prayer which he offered for 
his followers on the night of his betrayal, 
occupied just twenty-six sentences. We 
ministers too often transgress in monopoliz- 
ing time at our people's devotional meet- 
ings. In is their meeting. We have ample 
opportunity for Bible exposition on the 
Sabbath. If the social meeting has broken 
down under the weight of long, heavy 
preachments, it is time it were mended. 
An energetic leader can do this by a prompt 
tap of a bell or a kind word of monition, or 
by calling on some " full " brother to offer 
a word of prayer. Without dwelling fur- 
ther upon the things which mar the seasons 
of devotion, I will present briefly in the 
next chapter, an account of a service which 
fairly realized my ideal of a prayer-meeting. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

A MODEL PRAYER-MEETING. 

T began punctually at the moment. 
As the clock struck eight the 
leader rose and sounded the 
reveille, by giving out the inspiring lines — 

" Come, my soul, thy suit prepare ; 
Jesus loves to answer prayer." 

A sweet symphony was touched on a 
piano in one of the crowded rooms, and 
then the words of the hymn were sent 
heavenward on a full tide of united and 
enthusiastic song. Every voice chimed in. 
Each verse was sung with more spirit than 
its predecessor, marking the outcome'of the 
rising devotion; and, like a strong "off- 
shore " breeze, the opening chant of praise 



80 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

carried the whole meeting out of harbor 
into the larger liberty and deep waters of 
the open sea. Then the leader invoked the 
descent of the Holy Ghost, the gift of utter- 
ance, and the Pentecostal baptism. It was 
a very short prayer, but very full. He 
prayed for the gift of prayer upon all, for 
honesty of speech, for deliverance from 
dead formalities, for sincerity in confession, 
for child-like familiarity of approach to God, 
for filial faith ; and then closed by inviting 
Christ to " come in, as through the closed 
doors of the disciples' upper room at Jeru- 
salem, and speak, Peace be unto you." 

As soon as a fitting passage of the Word 
had been read, each one present seemed 
ready to bear his part in giving life and 
interest to the occasion. Each one felt, 
" This is not the leader's meeting, nor the 
pastor's, but my meeting with my own 
spiritual family at the feet of my own Sav- 
iour. Here I have a right to weep, and 
sing, and melt in spirit, and flow out in 
social communings with the brotherhood 



A MODEL PRAYER-MEETING. 8 1 

around me. If I am silent, then the meet- 
ing may prove dumb ; and if I freeze up 
then my neighbor may chill through, un- 
til the place becomes an ice house. So 
there was no entreaty required on the part 
of the leader to " draw out " those present. 
He was obliged to use no turnkey. What 
is more pitiful than to see a poor embar- 
rassed elder or deacon sit before a petrified 
company, and after a long, awful pause, in 
which you can count the clock-ticks, be- 
seechingly implore " some brother present 
to improve the time"? As if the dreary 
dribble of dullness that was forced out by 
such a process was not a downright //^-im- 
provement and murder of the sweet, sacred 
hour of devotion. It is no wonder that so 
many of us grew up with a loathing for the 
very name, and next to a taste of the birch 
that grew behind the school-house, we 
dreaded a sentence to " go to prayer-meet- 
ing." Our only solace was a sound nap, 
until some one shook our eyes open, and 
with an admonitory thump informed us 
6 



82 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

that " meetin's out ; it is time to go 
home." 

But even a child of eight years old would 
have been interested in the enlivening ser- 
vice we are now etching. Not a moment 
was lost ; not a syllable of persuasion was 
needed. One man rose and gave a touch- 
ing account of the scene a few evenings 
before, when he had first set up a family 
altar in his once prayerless house. That 
was his first audible prayer, and this was his 
first speech. While he is speaking, the 
tears stream down the cheek of his aston- 
ished and overjoyed wife. Then comes a 
fervid prayer of thanksgiving to God from 
some one present, and a petition that the 
family altar thus reared may never be 
desecrated, or thrown down. After this a 
youth arose, with a blue jacket, and an 
anchor embroidered on his broad collar. 
He had been brought there by a tract visi- 
tor. The burden of his short, artless speech 
was, Come to Jesus. " Whosoever will, let 
him come," said the sunburnt youth ; that 



A MODEL PRAYER-MEETING. 83 

means that everybody on board may come, 
from the captain to the cabin boy. We are 
bound for heaven. Christ is our pilot. The 
anchor is sure and steadfast. Come aboard, 
friends, before eight bells strike, and your 
time is up." No one felt like criticising this 
earnest lad, or objecting to his simple ver- 
nacular of the sea. He spake as the Spirit 
gave him utterance. So did they all. One 
young man asked counsel in regard to the 
rightfulness of his discharging some pre- 
scribed duties in a government office on the 
Sabbath mornings. The leader answered 
his question briefly, and a brother offered 
prayer that God would guide aright his 
perplexed child, would enable him to " do 
right even if it cost him his daily bread," 
and would deliver the land from Sabbath 
desecration in high places. 

When his prayer was ended, a tremulous, 
stammering voice was heard in the further 
room for a moment, and then it stopped. 
There was a breathless pause. Every one 
felt for the young beginner. Every one 



84 HOW. TO BE A PASTOR. 

wanted to help him out. He began again, 
hesitated, stammered out a few words brok- 
enly; at last he said, " Lord, thou know- 
est I can not tell what I want to say; but 
thou hearest even what I do not say. Have 
mercy on my poor soul, for Christ's sake. 
Amen." An audible sob broke out through- 
out the whole apartment. Then outspoke 
a gray-headed veteran, in tones like old An- 
drew Peden's among the Covenanters of the 
Highlands. The old man went into his 
prayer like Gideon into the battle with 
Midian. The sword of faith gleamed in his 
right hand ; the light shot forth as from the 
shivered pitchers, and the whole host of 
doubts, and sins, and fears were scattered 
like chaff at the breath of the gale. How 
he took us all on eagles' wings heavenward ! 
How he enthroned the glorified Lamb ! 
And the close of his rapturous outbreak 
was in a " sevenfold chorus of hallelujahs, 
aud harping symphonies." 

When the old man's prayer was ended (it 
was the seventh prayer offered during that 



A MODEL PRAYER-MEETING. 8$ 

one busy, blessed hour), the time had ar- 
rived for closing the service. The leader 
touched his bell, and read the doxology. 
We were all in the very frame for that most 
celestial of strains — glorious Old Hundred 
— that magnificent battle-hymn to which 
Luther marched against principalities and 
powers, and spiritual wickedness in high 
places. Immortal is that strain, like him 
who gave it birth. There is not a Chris- 
tian's tomb in all our land where repose not 
the silent lips that once sang that matchless 
tune. If any of earth's music shall be 
heard amid the "new songs" of Paradise* 
be assured that the one surviving piece that 
shall outlive the judgment will be that 
" king of sacred airs," Old Hundred. With 
this ancient song upon our lips, we closed 
our service, spent a few moments in hand- 
shakings, in introducing strangers, in cordial 
heart-greetings ; and so ended a model 
prayer meeting. 

The spirit that pervaded the meeting was 
too intensely earnest for phraseology as sap- 



86 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

less and dry as last year's corn husks, and 
at the same time too reverential for affecta- 
tions and flippancy. We lingered about the 
hallowed spot, loth to go away. But for 
the rigid rule that restricted the service to a 
single hour, we might have tarried until 
midnight, praying and singing praises to 
God. And as we turned reluctantly home- 
ward, more than one gratefully said, " Truly 
the LORD was in this place." Why may 
not every church of Christ have one or more 
just such model prayer meetings f 




CHAPTER IX. 

REVIVALS. 

Y the word " revival " we commonly 
describe such a condition of a 
church that Christians are more 
than ordinarily active and spiritually- 
minded, and as a result, the conversions of 
the impenitent are more than ordinarily 
numerous. Whatever the other character- 
istics may be, two phenomena are essential 
to a genuine revival — the Holy Spirit quick- 
ens believers and the Holy Spirit regener- 
ates sinners. The power of the work of 
grace may be estimated by the degree with 
which the divine Spirit produces these 
blessed results. Never forget, my young 
brother, that the foremost factor, the indis- 
pensable agent is that same Spirit which 



88 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

was poured out with such marvelous results 
on the day of Pentecost. 

After a long- pastoral experience and fre- 
quent labors in revivals I confess that there 
is much that is utterly mysterious in regard 
to them. Our God is a sovereign. He often 
seems to withhold His converting power at 
the very time when according to our calcu- 
lations, we ought to expect it. I have had 
many disappointments of this kind. On the 
other hand several copious showers of 
heavenly blessings have descended when we 
were not expecting them. The first revival 
that ever visited my ministry (in my little 
church at Burlington, New Jersey) — began 
at a time of deep discouragement ; it began 
too in a single act of one godly woman. 
The most remarkable work of grace that I 
have ever enjoyed was in the Lafayette 
Avenue Church, Brooklyn (in 1866); and 
that commenced during the " week of 
prayer." There were no extraordinary 
efforts made, no peculiar expectations of a 
revival were discernible, no outside help 



REVIVALS. 89 

was called for, from the beginning to the 
end. In both cases the showers burst upon 
us suddenly. 

It has not been my custom to send for 
Evangelists to do the work which the Mas- 
ter has committed to me. Eighteen years 
ago, I invited my beloved friend Mr. 
Dwight L. Moody to come and conduct a 
series of special services in one of our Mis- 
sion-chapels. He prepared there the first 
"Bible-Readings" which he ever delivered; 
and after a few days of patient effort, a fire 
was kindled which spread through the parent 
congregation, and over one hundred souls 
were hopefully converted. In 1887 my 
church united with several neighboring 
churches in inviting that very earnest and 
discreet evangelist, the Rev. B. Fay Mills, 
to conduct public meetings during about 
three weeks, and his faithful preaching pro- 
duced some happy results. There is often 
a prodigious temptation to pastors and 
churches to shirk their own responsibility, 
and to send off after somebody to come and 



90 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

do their work for them. The minister 
thinks that " perhaps a new voice may wake 
up the sleepers," or his officers may suggest 
that some " novelty will draw the people 
out" and accordingly an invitation is sent 

to Mr. A , the evangelist, or Mr. B , 

the Bible-reader, or the Rev. Mr. C — : — , the 
" revivalist," to come and inaugurate some 
special services. Far be it from me to 
speak disparagingly of some faithful, godly- 
minded itinerants who go about preaching 
the pure gospel, or holding " Bible-readings," 
or conducting various meetings for arousing 
sinners or edifying believers. I sometimes 
wish that they would carry their torches 
oftener into the darkness of neglected re- 
gions and not spend so much time in setting 
their extra lamps in pulpits, and prayer- 
rooms that are already well lighted. One 
of the dangers of importing outside laborers 
is that it tends to belittle and disparage the 
installed shepherds of the flock. An idea is 
becoming quite current that the pastor may 
plod on in his routine of expounding God's 



REVIVALS. 91 

Word, visiting his flock, comforting the sick 
and sorrowing, and burying the dead ; but if 
souls are to be converted, then somebody 
must be sent for whose profession it is to 
convert people. He is sent for as a farmer 
whose wheat is ripe goes after the owner of 
a patent " Reaper " to bring his machine 
that will cut and bind the grain with the 
utmost dispatch. Surely, if nobody else can 
bring a new gospel or a new Redeemer, or 
another Holy Spirit than the One that is 
promised to the prayer of faith, w r hy should 
a faithful and zealous pastor look anywhere 
else than Heaven-ward? Sometimes it may 
be wise to employ itinerant heralds of the 
gospel ; but commonly a minister had bet- 
ter sow his own seed and reap his own har- 
vests. 

We must bear in mind that God always 
means to be God. He bestows spiritual 
blessings when He pleases, how He pleases 
and where He pleases. We may labor, we 
may pray, we may " plant," but we must not 
dictate. Sometimes a godly pastor — greatly 



92 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

troubled by the low state of religion in his 
church — sets in motion some special machin- 
ery to produce a revival. It comes to 
nothing. The wheels whirl for awhile, but 
there is " no living Spirit within the 
wheels." Never, in my whole life, have I 
arranged any peculiar measures to produce 
a revival, — which have been successful. 
The shower of blessings has descended upon 
us when I have been preaching God's Word 
in my usual way and when the church has 
been in what may be called an " average 
condition."- Whatever the experience of 
other pastors has been, this has been my 
experience. 

(i.) In the first place, then, I would ad- 
vise you, my brother, not to talk too much 
about a " revival." You will wear out the 
very word. Lay hold of your heaven- 
appointed work of preaching the whole gos- 
pel and soak it in prayer; keep at it, and do 
your utmost to keep your people at work ; 
and then commit results to God. Do not 



REVIVALS. 93 

worry ; do not become disheartened ; do not 
scold your people ; do not undertake any- 
thing but the fearless, faithful and loving 
discharge of duty to your Master and to 
dying souls. Constantly present the great 
vital truths of the inspired Book — such as 
human depravity, the remedy for sin, the 
atonement of Jesus Christ, justification by 
faith, the character and claims of Jesus, 
the Bible rules of clean living, the final 
judgment, and future retributions. Waste 
no time in defending your Bible ; preach it 
and let it defend itself ! Preach sound doc- 
trine fervently, and with lively, helpful illus- 
trations. A revival that is not founded on 
Bible truth is a blaze of pine shavings, and 
will end in smoke. You should mingle 
your instructive discourses with frequent 
arguments and tender appeals to the uncon- 
verted. Say as little as you can about 
"revivals" — and keep your own eyes and 
those of your people upon " no man but 
JESCS ONLY!" Deal with sin fearlessly; 
press home upon the consciences of your 



94 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

hearers the tremendous claims of God, the 
necessity of immediate repentance and ac- 
ceptance of the Saviour. Keep your people 
at personal work for the welfare of others 
and for the salvation of souls. 

(2.) Watch, with open eye and ear, for 
the first tokens of an especial manifestation 
of the Spirit's presence; be on the lookout, 
and the moment that you detect such a 
manifestation, follow it up promptly. One 
afternoon, when I was out making calls, I 
discovered that in two or three families 
there were anxious seekers after salvation. 
I immediately called together the officers 
of my church, stated to them my discover- 
ies, and we instituted a series of meetings 
for almost every evening, and followed them 
with conversations with inquirers. A large 
ingathering of souls rewarded our efforts and 
prayers. Without any noise, or violent ex- 
citement, or "sensational" devices, the 
good work went steadily on for months, 
and there was no reaction after it. People 



REVIVALS. 95 

did not flock together to hear a noted 
preacher; they came to hear preaching of 
the Word (which is a mightily different 
thing). All the time, too, there was abun- 
dant and fervent prayer by God's people. 
When revivals die down, they die from the 
want of humble, persistent supplication, and 
the lack of persistent laboring and living for 
the Lord. The church gets satisfied with 
the harvest, and the harvesting stops. 
When we cease to co-operate with the Holy 
Spirit, then the grieved and neglected Spirit 
withholds His converting power. 

(3.) While it is true that we finite crea- 
tures cannot predict the times or seasons of 
the Spirit's especial presence, yet it is 
always right, to be praying for an outpour- 
ing of the power from on high. The late 
Dr. Thos. H. Skinner (a remarkably humble 
and holy man) told me that two or three 
of his elders, in Philadelphia, met in his 
study to prostrate themselves before God, 
and to ask for a baptism of the Spirit. 



9D HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

They emptied themselves and prayed to be 
filled with Christ. He did fill them. Then 
they interceded most fervently for the 
awakening and conversion of sinners. Pres- 
ently a most powerful revival shook the 
whole church like the mighty blast which 
filled the upper-room at Pentecost. Mr. 
Finney tells us that for fourteen successive 
winters there was a rich spiritual blessing 
brought down upon a certain church just 
because it was the custom of the church- 
officers to " pray fervently for their minister 
far into the night before each Sabbath." 
Those wise, godly men honored Christ's 
ambassador, honored His gospel, honored 
their own duty and felt their own responsi- 
bility. They did not run off to Egypt for 
help. The prayer-hearing God honored 
them. 

(4.) When the influences of the Spirit are 
recognized in your congregation in any un- 
wonted degree, you must be on the alert, 
and be prompt and untiring in your co-oper- 



REVIVALS. 97 

ation with the Divine Agent. The secret 
of success in a revival is to co-operate with 
the Holy Spirit. Therefore you will be 
praying most fervently for His guidance. 
Appoint as many services of prayer as can 
be profitably attended. During the remark- 
able revival in my church (in 1866), the 
following programme of services was carried 
out. It may give you some hints if I repro- 
duce it here : — 

On Monday evenings our young people 
held their regular weekly gathering, which 
was very crowded, and was followed by a 
service for inquirers. On Tuesday evening, 
Thursday evening and Friday evening, there 
was a general prayer-service, followed by 
inquiry meetings. On Wednesday evening 
I usually preached as clearly and pungently 
as I possibly could — sometimes to back- 
sliders, sometimes to the impenitent, and 
sometimes to awakened sinners who were 
seeking salvation. This service, like all the 
others, was followed by a cordial invitation 
to all inquirers to go into a large adjoining 
7 



98 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

room for personal conversation and prayer. 
I found a vast benefit from this plan. It 
revealed to me just who were awakened, and 
the very act of going into that room as in- 
quirers had a certain strengthening and 
compacting influence upon those who were 
awakened. It was a step, and a step in the 
right direction. If pride and self-conceit 
were somewhat humbled by this step, all 
the better. In addition to these evening 
services there was an afternoon meeting of 
young lads (for an hour) and another after- 
noon meeting of young ladies. Both these 
services were in charge of experienced Chris- 
tians, and were devoted to prayer, praise 
and free conversation. 

(5.) The inquiry meetings during a season 
of revival are so vitally and critically impor- 
tant, that no rash, inexperienced or fanatical 
person ought to be admitted to converse 
with inquirers. By the fanatical I mean all 
such people as are (in Scotch phrase) " clean 
daft " with some spiritual hobby of their 



REVIVALS. 99 

own. I always conducted the inquiry meet- 
ings myself, and called to my aid certain 
men and women who possessed both grace 
and good sense. (The two are not always 
found in combination.) In the solemn 
w r ork of the inquiry-room no small artifices 
were allowed. I aimed to discover just 
what hindrance was in the path of each in- 
quirer. It is a great point for a sinner to 
discover what it is that keeps him from sur- 
rendering to Christ. If it be some habit or 
some evil practice, then he must give it up. 
If some heart-sin, then he must yield — even 
if it be like plucking out a right eye, or lop- 
ping off a right hand. Commonly the chief 
hindrance lies in a wicked, stubborn heart. 
It was my aim, and ever has been, to con- 
vince the awakened person that, unless he 
or she was willing to give that heart to 
Jesus, and to " do the will " of Jesus, there 
was no hope for them. We must shut the 
soul up to Christ ! 

Of course the Word of God is as indis- 
pensable in an inquiry meeting as a compass 



IOO HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

on board of a ship. It is well to have cer- 
tain passages so familiar to the mind that 
you can turn to them instantly, and read 
them to the one who is seeking for light. 
The healing of blind Bartimeus, and the 
conversation of Christ with Nicodemus, I 
have always found helpful in guiding in- 
quirers. When you use the inspired direc- 
tions of God's Word you are sure that you 
are right, and you may always confidently 
ask for a blessing on God's own instrument. 
You ought to converse with each person in- 
dividually. If time forbids as full discus- 
sion as the case demands, then appoint some 
hour for further conversation at the person's 
house or your own study. During a sea- 
son of awakening, you must not allow any- 
thing to call you away from your parish — 
especially any " lecturing " or money-making 
expedition — ; and you will probably find it 
necessary to devote half of every day to 
thorough visitations and conversations from 
house to house. Do not begrudge the time 
required to guide a perplexed or halting 



REVIVALS. IOI 

soul into the Kingdom. Hand-picked ap- 
ples keep the longest. Individual labor 
with each individual soul is indispensable. 
The book of the "Acts" of the Apostles is 
such a record. Those early Christians un- 
derstood their personal responsibility and 
the power of personal effort. Peter goes 
right after Cornelius ; Philip talks directly 
to Queen Candace's royal treasurer; Paul 
answers the Phillippian jailor's questions 
face to face, and Aquila and Priscilla have a 
great Bible-class in the person of the elo- 
quent Apollos. If the Son of God would 
devote so much time to the Jewish ruler 
who came to Him by night, and to a poor 
soul-smirched woman at the well of Sychar, 
surely we ought to spare no time or toil in 
leading an immortal soul out of darkness 
into the daylight. 

(6.) " Had I better ask those who are 
seeking Christ to rise in a public meeting? " 
To this question I would reply that the 
method of inviting anxious inquirers to rise 



102 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

for special prayer has been adopted by 
many very wise pastors ; it has been blessed 
with many glorious results. During the 
first half of my ministry I requested in- 
quirers to remain after the service for con- 
versation, or to go into a room by them- 
selves. During later years I have often re- 
quested those who wished to be prayed for 
to manifest that desire by rising. So many 
happy results have followed this measure 
that, on the whole, I approve of it. But 
great discretion must be used, or else a 
very solemn step will be perverted into a 
flippant and careless formality. Be very 
careful to set before your auditors just what 
is involved in "rising for prayer," and make 
your invitation not only affectionate but so 
clear that even the weakest may understand 
it. Let the prayer that is offered be direct, 
simple and importunate. When the service 
is over those who have taken the public 
step of rising up should be conversed with 
in private. After an inquirer has made a 
firm decision for Christ, I have always en- 



REVIVALS. 103 

couraged them to make it known to others. 
A few touching words from a new-born soul 
will often thrill a meeting like the sight of 
a Lazarus lifted from the tomb. It quick- 
ens the faith of God's people wonderfully to 
hear the " new song " from a soul that has 
been dead in trespasses and sin. Unless 
young converts begin to testify for Christ at 
once, they are apt to be tongue-tied all their 
lives. 

(7.) The preaching during a revival should 
be steeped in Holy Scripture and saturated 
with prayer. You cannot be too simple, 
too earnest, too close in your applica- 
tions, or too clear in your illustrations. 
President Finney — a king of revival-preach- 
ers — used to subsoil his auditors' hearts by a 
prodigiously powerful presentation of every 
sinner's personal guilt before God. He put 
his plough in deep — "up to the beam" — 
and it made ripping work in the conscience. 
His chief aim was to make every uncon- 
verted hearer realize that he was a sinner 



104 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

against infinite holiness and love ; that sin 
was exceedingly damnable ; that it should 
be repented of and abandoned straightway ; 
and that the sinner should turn immediately 
to God who would grant abundant par- 
don through Jesus Christ, the all-sufficient 
Saviour of every man who trusts in Him. 
Pungent convictions followed such preach- 
ing; the conversions were usually as clean- 
cut as the stamp of the die on a gold eagle 
from the mint. We need more of such 
thorough work in the pulpits of these days. 
The key-note of John the Baptist's preach- 
ing, of Jesus Christ's first preaching, and of 
apostolic preaching was " repent, — repent ! " 
You must bear in mind that " repentance 
unto life is a saving grace whereby a sin- 
ner, out c&a true sense of his sin and appre- 
hension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth 
with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it 
unto God with full purpose of and endeavor 
after new obedience." Can any step be 
more vital, or any duty be more peremptory 
than this ? Do not be afraid of preaching 



REVIVALS. 105 

with too much of the plainness of love ; do 
not hesitate to make every soul that is in 
the wrong place feel uncomfortable. The 
more deeply a man feels his guilt, his weak- 
ness, and his desert of punishment, the 
sooner will he flee to the crucified Lamb of 
God. That revival will leave the most en- 
during results which sends every awakened 
soul to " Jesus only," — and which draws the 
church into the closest daily imitation of its 
holy and loving LORD. 




CHAPTER X. 

DRAWING THE BOW AT A VENTURE. 

MONG the many delightful prayer- 
meetings held during a revival in 

the town of B , there was one 

which I never can forget, and which some 
souls, I trust, will remember in that hour 
when the redeemed shall be summoned in 
to the marriage supper of the Lamb. It 
was held in a private dwelling, and the 
rooms were thronged. The house was as 
silent as the grave, when I entered, and 
many were sitting with their heads bowed 
and their faces covered. An awful so- 
lemnity hung over the little assembly, for 
the Spirit of the Lord " was in that place." 
An hour was spent in singing two or three 
inviting hymns, and while two aged men 



DRAWING THE BOW AT A VENTURE. 10J 

(both far up the Delectable Mountains), 
poured forth fervent prayers, which were 
interrupted by frequent sobs and ejacula- 
tions. When the benediction was pro- 
nounced, a request was made that all who 
desired private conversation on the state of 
their souls would remain. The whole as- 
sembly settled back again, as one man, into 
their seats ! The scene was overwhelming. 
Some of those before me were professed 
Christians, some had been openly profane, 
many of them were strangers. It was evi- 
dent that a word must be spoken to all, and 
the bow be " drawn at a venture." 

Near me sat a young female dressed in 
black, whose face betokened a deep so- 
lemnity. I had never seen her before, and 
supposed her to be a member of a neigh- 
boring church, who had come in to unite 
her prayers with our own. Approaching 
her respectfully, I ventured to ask her if 
" she had any hope that she was a child of 
God ? " Her head dropped in a moment ; 
she burst into tears, and in her deep emo- 



108 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

tion her answer to me was not intelligible. 
With a kind word of exhortation I left her, 
and after a little inquiry I learned that she 
had been for a long time utterly thought- 
less, and a perpetual neglecter of the house 
of God. At our next meeting I saw the 
same face again, but sadder than before. 
At the end of a fortnight (one of inde- 
scribable anguish to her struggling soul), 
the cloud left her brow, and the serenity of 
a peace that passeth understanding sat like 
a dove upon her happy countenance. She 
is now an humble and consistent member of 
the fold of Christ. 

Farther on was a timid and retiring 
young member of my congregation, with 
whom I had never had an opportunity for 
conversation. As she sat with her face cov- 
ered, I addressed a few pointed inquiries to 
her and turned away. The next day a 
member of my church called upon me to 
say that the person whom I had addressed 
as impenitent and thoughtless, was a church- 
member before I came to B , but her 



DRA WING THE BOW AT A VENTURE. 109 

name had either been omitted from the 
record, or confounded with that of two 
others in the congregation bearing the same 
name. I sent the necessary explanation to 
her, and thought no more about it. When 
nearly a month had elapsed, the same per- 
son who had before waited on me, stopped 
me one evening at the church-door and said, 

" I wish you would call on M T , 

and endeavor to calm her. She is in a state 
of utter despair. Those remarks that you 
made to her in the inquiry-meeting by mis- 
take have troubled her ever since. She 
fears now that she never was a true Chris- 
tian, and after a long struggle with her 
pride, she can no longer conceal her an- 
guish. I fear, sir, that she will lose her 
reason." I called at once, as requested, and 
found the unhappy young woman the pict- 
ure of despair. It was a long time before 
her weeping eyes could be turned toward 
Calvary, or she could be persuaded that 
there was mercy left for one who had so 
long done despite to the Spirit of divine 



IIO HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

grace. But the wound which the stray 
arrow — guided by infinite wisdom — had 
made, was at length healed. The Mas- 
ter's gentle voice whispered "Peace." She 
went on her way rejoicing, and though her 
eye may never rest on this humble volume, 
she can hardly forget to her dying day that 
interview in the inquiry-meeting. 

During -the progress of the revival, it was 
pleasant to hear from one how he had been 
awakened by a tract handed to him, " at a 
venture " — how another had been aroused 
by some particular passage in a discourse — 
and how some had been reached by truths 
that were aimed at others than themselves. 

" Dr. C preached entirely at me last 

evening," said a young man to me one 
Monday morning " He reached my own 
case exactly, and I never heard such a ser- 
mon before." It is certain that he never 
heard before with such a spirit as then ; 
and for that discourse he will doubtless bless 
Redeeming Love when the ransomed host 
shall shout their Harvest Home I 



DRA WING THE BOW AT A VENTURE. 1 1 I 

Fainting and desponding minister of 
Christ ! who shall dare to tell you, when 
you have come back from preaching the 
cross boldly and earnestly, that many an 
arrow may not have pierced the waiting 
souls around you ? You may not have 
seen its flight. You may have heard no 
outcry of the wounded soul. You may 
have seen no tears, and heard no groans. 
You may never hear of them in this world. 
But in the great day of retribution you 
shall stand as God's appointed archer, with 
the trophies of redeeming grace about you, 
— and stars shall blaze in the coronet of 
your rejoicing, which are now unseen save 
by Him who seeth in secret and rewardeth 
openly. 




CHAPTER XI. 

WHERE TO BE A PASTOR. 

SjHOULD a young minister,, take a 
large church or a small one for 
his first pastorate?" Some 
cynical persons might respond to this 
question that a man fresh from the theologi- 
cal seminary, who has had no experience, 
had better "take" whatever he can get. 
For it is true that some men who have risen 
to great eminence have not found it easy 
to secure a very favorable hearing at the 
start, Another person might respond that a 
young man whose ambition led him to 
" seek great things for himself " would very 
likely be forced to content himself with 
small things. Certainly the surest way for 
any man to secure a wide field is for him to 



WHERE TO BE A PASTOR. 113 

fill full and overflow a narrow field. All that 
any licentiate of real force and consecrated 
heart should reasonably ask is to find some 
pulpit, high or humble, in which to begin 
his heaven-directed work. When God calls 
a man to the gospel-ministry, he is very apt 
to get calls from his fellow-men to preach 
that gospel. The demand exceeds the sup- 
ply. 

Supposing that a young man of abilities 
and fervent piety were permitted to choose 
between two calls, the one to a. large church 
and the other to a small one, which of the 
two should he prefer for his first pastorate ? 
I answer unhesitatingly, the small church. 
In Scotland the rule has been to locate 
the "apprentices" in a rural parish, and 
then let them work their way up into the 
large towns. A wise custom it is too. 
Thus the great Chalmers began in the little 
parish of Kilmany : Dr. Norman McLeod's 
first settlement was among the farmers and 
weavers of Loudon ; the eloquent Guthrie had 
hard work to get the humble parish of 



114 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

Arbirot, and the sainted McCheyne com- 
menced his wonderful ministry at Dundee as 
the pastor of a new colony of artisans and 
day-laborers. There are several strong rea- 
sons why a small church is to be preferred 
at the outset. And I shall always thank 
God that my own lot was cast during my 
early ministry, in a little parish of about one 
hundred souls, a considerable portion of 
whom were shoemakers, gardeners, and 
coachmen. A distinguished lawyer who at- 
tended my church during the summer 
months, used to say to me, " I want you to 
preach the gospel so simply and plainly that 
my coachman and gardener can understand 
you as well as I do." That sensible advice 
did me, as our Southern friends say" a heap 
of good." 

(i.) The first argument for a small parish 
is that it gives a young minister a better op- 
portunity to study individuals. He has fewer 
persons to count, and he counts every man 
and every woman ; yes, and if he is wise, 



WHERE TO BE A PASTOR. 1 1 5 

every child. The most profitable study for 
every minister, next to his Bible, is human 
character. The misfortune with many of 
our young ministers in these days is that 
they know more about books than about 
human nature. When there are but few 
individuals in his flock, the pastor gets a 
deeper insight into each one ; and he also 
learns more thoroughly that mighty lesson, 
the infinite value of one immortal soul. A 
crowd is an inspiring object for me to preach 
to ; an individual soul brought into close 
and living contact is an inspiring personage to 
preach to me. In a big city we deal with the 
masses; in a quiet rural or village parish a 
pastor deals with each man, woman or child. 
That minister rarely gains a great hold or 
exerts a great power over a congregation, 
who has no personal hold on the various 
persons who compose that congregation. 

(2.) A second argument for a small parish 
is that it gives the young beginner more 
time for uninterupted study and more time 



1 1 6 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

to think. Almost no great immortal work 
has been produced amid the pressure of 
a large pastorate. Jonathan Edwards 
could not have written the " Freedom of the 
Will," John Bunyan could not have written 
the " Pilgrim's Progress," and Charles 
Hodge could not have prepared his massive 
Theology, if they had been the pastors of 
big city churches, with their door-bells 
playing a perpetual St. Vitus's dance. 
Many a city pastor has maintained himself 
mainly on the good stock laid in during his 
early settlement in some quiet neighborhood. 
A young minister must learn the use of his 
tools. He must learn how to think, and 
how to put his thoughts into the most effect- 
ive shape. If he ever expects to be a vig- 
orous, meaty, instructive and enduring ex- 
tempore preacher, he must first spend sev- 
eral years in carefully writing out his dis- 
courses. A small church will afford him the 
best opportunity to lay good, broad, solid 
foundations by deep meditation, deep study 
of the Word and of fertilizing books, and 



WHERE TO BE A PASTOR. \\J 

deep study of human nature. Nearly all 
the greatest American ministers have com- 
menced their careers in small, or in secluded 
parishes. Dr. Archibald Alexander once 
said to us in his Princeton lecture room, 
"Young gentlemen, do not be ambitious to 
begin in the city ; I never knew but one 
man who did this and held out through a 
long life without breaking down." 

The strain upon pastors grows heavier 
every year. The multiplication of societies, 
enterprises, and " causes," (some of them 
without much effect) ; the tendency to over- 
load churches with what does not belong to 
them, the encroachments and the competi- 
tions of the busy world about us, make the 
life of an earnest spiritual pastor no holiday 
business. Young brethren, if you know 
when you are well off, do not itch for a call 
to a large town ; and do not lose one golden 
hour that you may now be spending in some 
modest little corner of the Master's vast 
vineyard. If you have bread to put into 
your mouths, and nutritious books to study, 



1 18 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

and immortal souls to win for Christ, be 
thankful and buckle to your work. Time 
enough to shoulder up the bullock when 
you have learned to carry the calf. Bend 
your whole undivided strength upon your 
first charge, even if it does not contain over 
one hundred precious souls; and remember 
that a single soul for whom Jesus died, is a 
tremendous trust. Those who are over- 
loaded too early in life break down the 
soonest. Therefore if both a large church 
and a small one were offered at the same 
time to any young minister, it would be the 
highest proof of his sagacity for him to ac- 
cept the latter. He would be far more 
likely to hold a position of commanding in- 
fluence and usefulness fifteen or twenty 
years afterward. 

There are many other practical questions 
that I should like to discuss— such as the 
relations of a pastor to the Sunday-school, 
— the methods of receiving members into 
the church, and of dealing; with those who 



WHERE TO BE A PASTOR. 119 

may require ecclesiastical discipline — the 
performance of marriage-rites and the ad- 
ministration of the sacraments. But the 
limits which I had prescribed for myself for- 
bid my consideration of these and several 
other kindred topics. My chief aim has 
been to set forth the great principles and 
purposes which should animate and inspire 
the sacred office of a Christian Pastor. 
How far I have been enabled (with the 
divine assistance) to realize my own ideal of 
pastoral labor, will appear in the following 
discourse— which I would modestly present 
as the closing chapter of this little volume. 




CHAPTER XII. 

THE JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 

A Valedictory Discourse delivered to the Lafayette 
Avenue Church, April 6th, 1890. 

INVITE your attention this morn- 
ing to the nineteenth and twenti- 
eth verses of the second chapter of 
Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians: 

" For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoic- 
ing ? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord 
Jesus Christ at His coming ? For ye are our glory 
and joy." 

These words were written by the most re- 
markable man in the annals of the Christian 
Church. Great interest is attached to them 
from the fact that they are part of the first 
inspired epistle that Paul ever wrote. Nay, 



JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 121 

more. The letter to the Church of Thessa- 
lonica is probably the earliest as to date of 
all the books of the New Testament. Paul 
was then at Corinth, about fifty-two years 
old, in the full vigor of his splendid prime. 
His spiritual son, Timothy, brings him tid- 
ings from the infant church in Thessalonica, 
that awakens his solicitude. He yearns to 
go and see them, but he cannot ; so he de- 
termines to write to them ; and one day he 
lays aside his tent needle, seizes his pen, 
and, when that pen touches the papyrus 
sheet the New Testament begins. The 
Apostle's great, warm heart kindles and 
blazes as he goes on, and at length bursts 
out in this impassioned utterance : " Ye are 
my glory and joy ! " 

Paul, I thank thee for a thousand things, 
but for nothing do I thank thee more than 
for that golden sentence. In these thrilling 
words, the greatest of Christian pastors, ris- 
ing above the poverty, homelessness, and 
scorn that surrounded him, reaches forth his 
hand and grasps his royal diadem. No 



122 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

man shall rob the aged hero of his crown. 
No chaplet worn by a Roman conqueror in 
the hour of his brightest triumph, rivals the 
coronal that Pastor Paul sees flashing before 
his eyes. It is a crown blazing with stars ; 
every star an immortal soul plucked from 
the darkness of sin into the light and liberty 
of a child of God. Poor, is he? He is 
making many rich. Despised is he ? He 
wouldn't change places with Caesar. Home- 
less is he? His citizenship is in heaven, 
where he will find myriads whom he can 
meet and say to them: "Ye, ye are my 
glory and joy." Sixteen centuries after 
Paul uttered these words, John Bunyan re- 
echoed them when he said : 

" I have counted as if I had goodly buildings in the 
places where my spiritual children were born. My 
heart has been so wrapt up in this excellent work that 
I accounted myself more honored of God than if He 
had made me emperor of all the world, or the lord of 
all the glory of the earth without it. He that con- 
verteth a sinner from the error of his ways doth save 
a soul from death ; and they that be wise shall shine 
as the brightness of the firmament." 



JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 1 23 

Now, the great Apostle expressed what 
every ambassador of Christ constantly ex- 
periences when in the thick of the Master's 
work. His are the joys of acquisition. His 
purse may be scanty, his teaching may be 
humble, and the field of his labor may be 
so obscure that no bulletins of his achieve- 
ments are ever proclaimed to an admiring 
world. Difficulties may sadden and dis- 
couragement bring him to his knees ; but I 
tell you that obscure, toiling man of God 
has a joy vouchsafed to him that a Fred- 
erick or a Marlborough never knew on the 
field of bloody triumph, or that a Roths- 
child never dreams of in his mansions of 
splendor, nor an Astor with his stores of 
gold. Every nugget of fresh truth discov- 
ered makes him happier than one who has 
found golden spoil. Every attentive audi- 
tor is a delight ; every look of interest on a 
human countenance flashes back to illumi- 
nate his own. Above all, when the tears of 
penitence course down a cheek and a re- 
turning soul is led by him to the Saviour, 



124 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

there is great joy in heaven over a repentant 
wanderer, and a joy in that minister's heart 
too exquisite to utter. Then he is repaid 
in full measure, pressed down, running over 
into his bosom. 

Converted souls' are jewels in the caskets 
of faithful parents, teachers and pastors. 
They shall flash in the diadem which the 
Righteous Judge shall give them in that 
great day. Ah ! it is when an ambassador" 
of Christ sees an army of young converts 
and listens to the first utterances of their 
new-born love, and when he presides at a 
communion table and sees his spiritual off- 
spring gathered around him, more true joy 
that faithful pastor feels than " Caesar with 
a Senate at his heels." Rutherford, of 
Scotland, only voiced the yearnings of every 
true pastor's heart when he exclaimed : 
" Oh, how rich were I if I could obtain of 
my Lord the salvation of you all ! What a 
prey had I gotten to have you all caught in 
Christ's net. My witness is above, that 
your heaven would be the two heavens to 



JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 1 25 

me, and the salvation of you all would be 
two salvations to me." 

Yet, my beloved people, when I recall 
the joy of my forty-four years of public 
ministry I often shudder at the fact of how 
near I came to losing it. For very many 
months my rnjiid was balancing between 
the pulpit and the attractions of a legal and 
political career. A single hour in a village 
prayer-meeting turned the scale. But per- 
haps behind it all a beloved mother's prayers 
were moving the mysterious hand that 
touched the poised balance, and made souls 
outweigh silver, and eternity outweigh time. 

Would that I could lift up my voice this 
morning in every academy, college and uni- 
versity on this broad continent. I would 
say to every gifted Christian youth, "God 
and humanity have need of you." He who 
redeemed you by His precious blood has a 
sovereign right to the best brains and the 
most persuasive tongues and the highest 
culture. Why crowd into the already over- 
crowded professions? The only occupation 



126 HO W TO BE A PASTOR. 

in America that is not overdone is the occu- 
pation of serving Jesus Christ and saving 
souls. I do not affirm that a Christian can- 
not serve his Master in any other sphere or 
calling than the Gospel ministry ; but I do 
affirm that the ambition for worldly gains 
and worldly honors is sluicing the very heart 
of God's Church, and drawing out to-day 
much of the Church's best blood in their 
greedy outlets. And I fearlessly declare 
that when the most splendid talent has 
reached the loftiest round on the ladder of 
promotion, that round is many rungs lower 
than a pulpit in which a consecrated tongue 
proclaims a living Christianity to a dying 
world. What Lord Eldon from the bar, 
what Webster from the Senate-chamber, 
what Sir Walter Scott from the realms of 
romance, what Darwin from the field of 
science, what monarch from Wall street or 
Lombard street can carry his laurels or his 
gold up to the judgment seat and say, 
" These are my joy and crown ? " The lau- 
rels and the gold will be dust — ashes. But 



JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. \2J 

if so humble a servant of Jesus Christ as 
your pastor can ever point to the gathered 
flock arrayed in white before the celestial 
throne, then he may say, " What is my 
hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are 
not even ye in the presence of Christ at His 
coming?" 

Good friends, I have told you what aspir- 
ations led me to the pulpit as a place in 
which to serve my Master ; and I thank 
Christ, the Lord, for putting me into the 
ministry. The forty-four years I have spent 
in that office have been unspeakably happy. 
Many a far better man has not been as 
happy from causes beyond control. He 
may have had to contend with feeble health 
as I never have ; or a despondent tempera- 
ment, as I never have ; or have struggled to 
maintain a large household on a slender 
purse ; he may have been placed in a stub- 
born field, where the Gospel was shattered 
to pieces on flinty hearts. From all such 
trials a kind Providence has delivered your 
pastor. 



128 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

My ministry began in a very small 
church. For that I am thankful. Let no 
young minister covet a large parish at the out- 
set. The clock that is not content to strike 
one will never strike twelve. In that little 
parish at Burlington, N. J., I had opportu- 
nity for the two most valuable studies for 
any minister — God's Book and individual 
hearts. My next call was to organize and 
serve an infant church in Trenton, N. J., 
and for that I am thankful. Laying the 
foundation of a new church affords capital 
tuition in spiritual masonry, and the walls 
of that church have stood firm and solid 
for forty years. The crowning mercy of 
my Trenton ministry was this, that one 
Sunday while I was watering the flock, a 
goodlier vision than that of Rebecca ap- 
peared at the well's mouth, and the sweet 
sunshine of that presence has never de- 
parted from the pathway of my life. To 
this hour the prosaic old capital of New 
Jersey has a halo of poetry floating over 
it, and I never go through it without 



JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 1 29 

waving a benediction from the passing 
train. 

The next stage of my life's work was a 
seven year's pastorate of Market-street 
Church in the City of New York. To those 
seven years of hard and happy labor I look 
back with joy. The congregation swarmed 
with young men, many of whom have risen 
to prominence in the commercial and relig- 
ious life of the great metropolis. The name 
of Market-street is graven indelibly on my 
heart. I rejoice that the quaint old edifice 
still stands and welcomes every Sabbath a 
congregation* of landsmen and of sailors. 
During the year 1858 occurred the great 
revival, when a mighty wind from Heaven 
filled every house where the people of God 
were sitting, and the glorious work of that 
revival kept many of us busy for six months, 
night and day. 

Early in the year i860 a signal was made 

to me from this side of the East River. It 

came from a brave little band then known 

as the Park Presbyterian Church, who had 

9 



130 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

never had any installed pastor. The signal 
at first was unheeded ; but a higher than hu- 
man hand seemed to be behind it, and I had 
only to obey. That little flock stood like 
the man of Macedonia, saying, " Come over 
and help us," and after I had seen the vision 
immediately I decided to come, assuredly 
concluding that God had called me to preach 
the Gospel unto them. 

This morning my memory goes back to 
that chilly, stormy April Sunday when my 
labors began as your first pastor. About 
two hundred and fifty people, full of grace 
and grit, gathered on that Easter morning 
to see how God could roll away stones that 
for two years had blocked their path with 
discouragement. My first message many of 
you remember. It was, " I determined not 
to know anything among you save Jesus 
Christ and Him crucified." Of that little 
company the large majority has departed. 
Many of them are among the white-robed 
that now behold their risen Lord in glory. 
Of the seventeen church officers — elders, 



JO YS OF THE CHRIS TIAAT MINIS TR Y. 1 3 1 

deacons and trustees — then in office, who 
greeted me that day, only four are living, 
and of that number only one, Mr. Albion P. 
Higgins, is now a member of this congrega- 
tion. I wonder how many there are here this 
morning that gathered before my pulpit on 
that Easter Sunday thirty years ago? As 
many of you as there are present that were 
at that service thirty years ago will do me a 
favor if you will rise in your pews. 

(Thirteen people here stood up). 

God bless you ! If it hadn't been for 
you this ark would never have been 
built. 

Ah ! we had happy days in that modest 
chapel. The tempest of civil war was rag- 
ing, with Lincoln's steady hand at the 
helm. We got our share of the gale ; but 
we set our storm-sails, and every one that 
could handle ropes stood at his or her place. 
Just think of the money contributions that 
small church made during the first year of 
my pastorate — $20,000, not in paper, but in 
gold. The little band in that chapel was 



132 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

not only generous in donations but valiant 
in spirit, and it was under the gracious 
shower of a revival that we removed into 
this edifice on the 16th March, 1862. 

The subsequent history of the church was 
published so fully at the notable anniversary 
five years ago, that I need only repeat the 
chief head-lines in a very few sentences. In 
1863 Mr. William Wickes started a mission 
school, which afterward grew into the 
present Cumberland Street Church. In 1866 
occurred that wonderful work of grace that 
resulted in the addition of 320 souls to our 
membership, one hundred of them heads of 
families. As a thank-offering to God for 
that rich blessing the Memorial Mission 
School was established, which was soon 
organized into the Memorial Presbyterian 
Church, now on Seventh Avenue, under the 
excellent pastorate of my Brother Nelson. 
During the winter of 1867 a conference of 
gentlemen was held in yonder study which 
set on foot the present Classon Avenue 
Church, where my Brother Chamberlain ad- 



JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 1 33 

ministers equally satisfactorily. Olivet Mis- 
sion was organized in 1874. It will always 
be fragrant with the memory of Horace B. 
Grifring, its first superintendent. The Cuy- 
ler Chapel was opened on Atlantic Avenue 
in March, 1886, by our Young People's 
Association, who are maintaining it most 
vigorously. The little Corwin Mission on 
Myrtle Avenue Avas established by a mem- 
ber of the church to perpetuate his name, 
and is largely sustained by members of this 
church. 

Of all the efficient, successful labors of 
the Lafayette Avenue Temperance Society, 
the Women's Home and Foreign Mission- 
ary Society, their Benevolent Society, the 
Cuyler Mission Band, the Daughters of the 
Temple, and other kindred organizations, 
I have no time or place to speak this morn- 
ing. But I must repeat now what I have 
said in years past, that the two strong arms 
of this church are its Sunday-school, and its 
Young People's Association. The former 
has been kept well up to the ideal of such 



134 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

an institution. It is that of a training 
school of young hearts for this life and for 
the life to come. God's blessing has de- 
scended upon it like the morning dew. Of 
the large number of children that have been 
enrolled in its classes 730 have been received 
into membership with this church alone, 
and to the profession of faith in Christ — to 
say nothing of those who have joined else- 
where. Warmly do I thank and heartily do 
I congratulate our beloved brother, Daniel 
W. McWilliams, and his faithful group of 
teachers, and the Superintendent of the 
primary department and her group of assist- 
ants, on the seal which God has set upon 
their loving work. They contemplate the 
the long array of children whom they have 
guided to Jesus ; and they, too, can exclaim, 
"What is our joy or crown of rejoicing? 
Are not even ye in the Lord ? " 

If the Sunday-school has rendered good 
service, so has the well-drilled and well- 
watered Young People's Association. The 
fires of devotion have never gone out on the 



JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. I 35 

altar of their Monday evening gatherings. 
For length of days and number of member- 
ship combined, probably it surpasses all sim- 
ilar young people's associations in our coun- 
try. About three thousand names have been 
on its membership roll, and of this number 
twelve have set their faces toward the Gos- 
pel ministry Oh, what a source of joy to 
me that I leave that association in such a 
high condition of vigor and prosperity ! No 
church can languish, no church can die, 
while it has plenty of young blood in its 
veins. 

What has been the outcome of these thirty 
years of happy pastorate ? As far as the 
results can be tabulated the following is a 
brief summary: — During my pastorate here 
I have preached about 2,750 discourses, have 
delivered a very large number of public ad- 
dresses in behalf of Sunday-schools, Young 
Men's Associations, the temperance reform, 
and kindred enterprises for advancing hu- 
man welfare. I have officiated at 682 mar- 
riages. I have baptized 962 children. The 



136 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

total number received into the membership of 
this church during this time has been 4,223. 
Of this number 1,920 have united by a confes- 
sion of their faith in Jesus Christ. An army, 
you see, an army of nearly two thousand 
souls, have enlisted under the banner of King 
Jesus, and taken their " sacramentum," or 
vow of loyalty, before this pulpit. What is 
our crown of rejoicing? Are not even they 
in the presence of Christ at His coming? 

It is due to you that I should commend 
your liberality in gifts to God's treasury. 
During these thirty years over $640,000 
have been contributed for ecclesiastical and 
benevolent purposes, and about $700,000 for 
the maintenance of the sanctuary, its wor- 
ship, and its work. Over a million and a 
quarter of dollars have passed through these 
two channels. The successive boards of 
trustees have managed our financial affairs 
carefully and efficiently. The architecture 
of this noble edifice is not disfigured by any 
mortgage. I hope it never will be. 

There is one department of ministerial 



JO YS OF THE CHRIS TIA N MINIS TR Y. 1 3 7 

labor that has had a peculiar attraction to 
me and afforded me peculiar joy. Pastoral 
work has always been my passion. It has 
been my rule to know everybody in this 
congregation, if possible, and seldom have I 
allowed a day to pass without a visit to 
some of your homes. I fancied that you 
cared more to have a warm-hearted pastor 
than a cold-blooded preacher, however intel- 
lectual. To carry out thoroughly a system 
of personal oversight, to visit every family, 
to stand by the sick and dying beds, to put 
one's self into sympathy with aching hearts 
and bereaved households, is a process that 
has swallowed up time, and I tell you it has 
strained the nerves prodigiously. Costly as 
the process has been, it has paid. If I have 
given sermons to you, I have got sermons 
from you. The closest tie that binds us to- 
gether is that sacred tie that has been wound 
around the cribs in your nurseries, the 
couches in your sick chambers, the chairs at 
your fireside, and even the coffins that have 
borne away your precious dead. My fond- 



138 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

est hope is that however much you may 
honor and love my successor in this pulpit, 
you will evermore keep a warm place in the 
chimney-corner of your hearts for the man 
that gave the best thirty years of his life to 
your service. 

Here let me bespeak for my successor the 
most kind and reasonable allowance as to pas- 
toral labors. Do not expect too much from 
him. Very few ministers have the pecu- 
liar passion for pastoral service that I have 
had ; and if Christ's ambassador who shall 
occupy this pulpit proclaims faithfully the 
whole Gospel of God and brings a sympa- 
thetic heart to your houses, do not criticize 
him unjustly because he may not attempt to 
make twenty-five thousand pastoral visits in 
thirty years. House to house visitation has 
only been one hemisphere of the pastor's 
work. I have accordingly endeavored to 
guard the door of yonder study so that I 
might give undivided energy to preparation 
for this pulpit. 

You know, my dear people, how I have 



JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY, 1 39 

preached and what I have preached. In 
spite of many interruptions, I have hon- 
estly handled each topic as best I could. 
The minister that foolishly runs races with 
himself is doomed to an early suicide. All 
that I claim for my sermons is that they 
have been true to God's Book and the cross 
of Jesus Christ, — have been simple enough 
for a child to understand, and have been 
preached in full view of the judgment 
seat. I have aimed to keep this pulpit 
abreast of all great moral reforms and 
human progress, and the majestic march- 
ings of the kingdom of King Jesus. The 
preparation of my sermons has been an un- 
speakable delight. The manna fell fresh 
every morning, and it had to me the sweet- 
ness of angels' food. Ah, there are many 
sharp pangs before me. None will be 
sharper than the hour that bids farewell to 
yonder blessed and beloved study. For 
twenty-eight years it has been my daily 
home, — one of the dearest spots this side of 
Heaven. From its walls have looked down 



I40 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

upon me the inspiring faces of Chalmers, 
Charles Wesley, Spurgeon, Lincoln and 
Gladstone, Adams, Storrs, Guthrie, New- 
man Hall, and my beloved teachers, Charles 
Hodge and the Alexanders of Princeton. 
Thither your infant children have been 
brought on Sabbath mornings, awaiting 
their baptism. Thither your older children 
have come by hundreds to converse with 
me about the welfare of their souls. 
Thither have come all the candidates for 
admission to the fellowship of this church, 
and have made there their confession of 
faith and their allegiance to Christ. Oh, 
what blessed interviews with inquirers have 
been held there ! What sweet and happy 
fellowship with my successive bands of help- 
ers, some of whom have joined the general 
assembly of the redeemed in glory. That 
hallowed study has been to me sometimes a 
Bochim of tears, and sometimes a Hermon, 
when the vision was of no man save Jesus 
only. And the work there has been a wider 
one for a far wider multitude than these 



^ 



JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 141 

walls contain this morning. I have written 
there nearly all the hundreds of articles 
which have gone out through the religious 
press, over this country, over Great Britain, 
over Europe, over Australia, Canada, India, 
and New Zealand. During my ministry I 
have published about 3,200 of these arti- 
cles. Many of them have been gathered 
into books, many of them translated into 
Swedish, Spanish, Dutch, and other foreign 
tongues. They have made the scratch of a 
very humble pen audible to Christendom. 
The consecrated pen may be more powerful 
than the consecrated tongue I devoutly 
thank God for having condescended to use 
my humble pen to the spread of His Gos- 
pel ; and I purpose with His help to 
spend much of the brief remainder of my 
life in preaching His glorious Gospel 
through the press. 

I am sincerely sorry that the necessities 
of this hour seem to require so personal a 
discourse this morning; but I must hide 
behind the example of the great Apostle 



142 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

who gave me my text. Because He re- 
viewed His ministry among His spiritual 
children of Thessalonica, I may be allowed 
to review my own, too — standing here this 
morning under such peculiar circumstances. 
These thirty years have been to me years of 
unbounded joy. Sorrow I have had, when 
death paid four visits to my house ; but the 
sorrow taught sympathy with the grief of 
others. Sins I have committed — too many 
of them ; your patient love has never cast a 
stone. The faults of my ministry have been 
my own. The successes of my ministry have 
been largely due under God, to your co- 
operation, and, above all, to the amazing 
goodness of our Heavenly Father. Look- 
ing my long pastorate squarely in the face, 
I think I can honestly say that I have been 
no man's man ; I have never courted the 
rich, nor wilfully neglected the poor ; I have 
never blunted the sword of the Spirit lest it 
should cut your consciences, or concealed a 
truth that might save a soul. In no large 
church is there a perfect unanimity of tastes 



JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 1 43 

as to preaching. I do not doubt that there 
are some of you that are quite ready for the 
experiment of a new face in this pulpit, and 
perhaps there may be some who are lusting 
after the fat quail of elaborate or philoso- 
phic discourse. For thirty years I have 
tried to feed you on " nothing but manna." 
Whatever the difference of taste, you have 
always stood by me, true as steel. This 
has been your spiritual home ; and you have 
loved your home, and you have drunk every 
Sunday from your own well ; and though 
the water of life has not always been passed 
up to you in a richly embossed silver cup, it 
has drawn up the undiluted Gospel from the 
inspired fountain-head. To hear the truth, 
to heed the truth, to " back " the truth with 
prayer and toil, has been the delight of the 
stanchest members of this church. Oh, the 
children of this church are inexpressibly dear 
to me ! There are hundreds here to-day that 
never had any other home, nor ever knew any 
other pastor. I think I can say that " every 
baptism has baptized us into closer fellow- 



144 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

ship, every marriage has married us into 
closer union, every funeral that bore away 
your beloved dead, only bound us more 
strongly to the living." Every invitation 
from another church — and I have had some 
veiy attractive ones that I never told you 
about — every invitation from another church 
has always been promptly declined ; for I 
long ago determined never to be pastor of 
any other than Lafayette Avenue Church. 

What is my joy or crown of rejoicing? 
Are not even ye — ye — in the presence of 
Christ at His coming? Why, then, sunder a 
tie that is bound to every fibre of my inmost 
heart ? I will answer you frankly. There 
must be no concealment or false pretexts 
between us. In the first place, as I told you 
two months ago, I had determined to make 
my thirtieth anniversary the terminal point 
of my present pastorate. I determined not 
to outstay my fullest capacity for the enor- 
mous work demanded here. The extent of 
that demanded work increases every twelve 
months. The requirements of preaching 



JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 145 

twice every Sunday, to visit the vast num- 
ber of families directly connected with this 
church, attending funeral services, conferring 
with committees about Christian work of 
various kinds, and numberless other duties 
— all these requirements are prodigious. 
Thus far, by the Divine help, I have carried 
that load. My health to-day is as firm as 
usual ; and I thank God that such forces of 
heart and brain as He has given me are un- 
abated. The chronic catarrh that long ago 
muffled my ears to many a strain of sweet 
music, has never made me too deaf to hear 
the sweet accents of your love. But I under- 
stand my constitution well enough to know 
that I could not carry the undivided load of 
this great church a great while longer with- 
out the risk of breaking down ; and there 
must be no risk run with you or with myself. 
I also desire to assist you in transferring this 
magnificent vessel to the next pilot whom 
God shall appoint ; and I wish to transfer it 
while it is well manned, well equipped, and 
on the clear sea of an unbroken financial and 
10 



I46 HO W TO BE A PASTOR. 

spiritual prosperity. No man shall ever say 
that I so far presumed on the generous kind- 
ness of this dear church as to linger here 
until I had outlived my usefulness. 

For these reasons I present to-day my res- 
ignation of this sacred, precious charge. It 
is my honest desire and purpose that this 
day must terminate my present pastorate. 
For presenting this resignation I alone am 
responsible before God, before this church 
and before the world. When you shall have 
accepted my resignation, the whole responsi- 
bility for the welfare of this beloved church 
will rest on yourshoulders — not on mine. My 
earnest prayer is that you may soon be di- 
rected to the right man to be your minister, 
to one who shall unite all hearts and all 
hands, and carry forward the high and holy 
mission to which God has called you. He 
will find in me not a jealous critic, but a 
hearty ally in everything that he may re- 
gard for the welfare of this church. 

As for myself, I do not propose to sit 
down on the veranda and watch the sun of 



JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 1 47 

life wheel downward in the west. The 
labors of a pen and of a ministry at large 
will afford me no lack of employment. The 
welfare of this church is inexpressibly dear 
to me — nothing is dearer to me this side of 
heaven. If, therefore, .while this flock re- 
mains shepherdless, and in search of my 
successor, I can be of actual service to you 
in supplying at any time this pulpit or per- 
forming pastoral labor, that service, beloved, 
shall be performed cheerfully. 

The first thought, the only thought with 
all of us, is this church, this cliurch, THIS 
CHURCH. I call no man my friend, you 
must call no man your friend that does 
not stand by the interests of Lafayette 
Avenue Church. It is now called to meet 
a great emergency. For the first time in 
twenty-eight years this church is subjected 
to a severe strain. During all these years 
you had very smooth sailing. You have 
never been crippled by debt ; you have 
never been distracted with quarrels, and 
you have never been without a pastor in 



I48 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

your pulpit or your homes when you needed 
him. And I suppose no church in Brooklyn 
has ever been subjected to less strain than 
this one. Now you are called upon to face 
a new condition of things, perhaps a new 
danger— certainly a new duty. The duty 
overrides the danger. To meet that duty 
you are strong in numbers. There are 
2,350 names on your church register. Of 
these many are young children, many are 
non-residents who have never asked a dis- 
mission to other churches ; but a great army 
of church members three Sabbaths ago rose 
up before that sacramental table. You are 
strong in a holy harmony. Let no man, no 
woman, break the ranks ! You are strong 
in the protection of that great Shepherd 
who never resigns and who never grows 
old. " Lo ! I am with you always ! Lo ! 
I am with you always ! Lo ! I am with you 
always ! " seems to greet me this morning 
from every wall of this sanctuary. I con- 
fidently expect to see Lafayette Avenue 
Church move steadily forward with un- 



JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 1 49 

broken column led by the Captain of our 
salvation. All eyes are upon you. The eye 
that never slumbers or sleeps is watching 
over you. If you are all true to conscience, 
true to your covenants, true to Christ, the 
future of this dear church may be as glorious 
as its past. And when another thirty years 
have rolled away, it may still be a strong 
tower' of the truth on which the smile of 
God shall rest like the light of the morning. 
By as much as you love me, I entreat you 
not to sadden my life or break my heart by 
ever deserting these walls, or letting the fire 
of devotion burn down on these sacred 
altars. 

The hands of the clock warn me to close. 
This is one of the most trying hours of my 
whole life. It is an hour when tears are 
only endurable by being rainbowed with 
the memory of tender mercies and holy joys. 
When my feet descend those steps to-day, 
this will no longer be my pulpit. I sur- 
render it back before God into your hands. 
One of my chiefest sorrows is that I leave 



150 . HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

some of my beloved hearers out of Christ. 
Oh, you have been faithfully warned here, 
and you have been lovingly invited here ; 
and once more, as though God did beseech 
you by me, I implore you in Christ's name 
to be reconciled to God. This dear pulpit, 
whose teachings are based on the Rock of 
Ages, will stand long after the lips that now 
address you have turned to dust. It will 
be visible from the judgment seat ; and its 
witness will be that I determined to know 
not anything among you save Jesus Christ 
and Him crucified. To-day I write the last 
page in the record of thirty bright, happy, 
Heaven-blessed years among you. What is 
written is written. I shall fold up the book 
and lay it away with all its many faults ; 
and it will not lose its fragrance while 
between its leaves are the pressed flowers of 
your love. When my closing eyes shall look 
on that record for the last time, I hope to 
discover there only one name— the name 
that is above every name, the name of Him 
whose glory crowns this Easter morn with 



JOYS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. I 5 I 

radiant splendor, the name of Jesus Christ, 
King of kings, Lord of lords. And the 
last words I utter in this sacred spot are 
unto Him that loves us and delivers us from 
sin with His precious blood ; and unto God 
be all the praise and thanks and dominion 
and glory for ever and ever. Amen. 



A NEW BOOK BY DR. CUYLER. 



HOW TO BE A PASTOR. 

BY THEODORE L. CUYLER, D. D. 



16mo, Gilt Top, 75 Cents. 



CONTENTS. 

I.— Importance of Pastoral Labor. II.— Pastoral Visits. 
III. — Visitation of the Sick— Funeral Services. IV. — Treat- 
ment of the Troubled. V.— How to Have a Working Church. 
VI.— Training Converts. VII.— Prayer -Meetings. VIII.— A 
Model Prayer - Meeting. IX. — Revivals. X.— Drawing the 
Bow at a Venture. XI. — Where to be a Pastor. XII.— Joys 
of the Christian Ministry. 

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Sent, postpaid, upon receipt of price, by 

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WORKS BY REV. DR. CUYLER. 



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" We do not hesitate to say that this book is the most purposeful, earnest, and in- 
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EVANGELISTIC WORK IN PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICE. 

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" Every page is filled with the evangelistic spirit Dr. Pierson is full 

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THE ONE GOSPEL; 

Or, THE COMBINATION OF THE NARRATIVES OF THE FOUR 
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Edited by Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D. D. i2mo, flexible cloth, red 
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Without taking the place of the four Gospels this book will be an aid in their 
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CALKINS — KEYSTONES OF FAITH; OR, 
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CO-OPERATION IN CHRISTIAN WORK. Com 
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CRANE— VIRGIL'S ^ENEID. Translated literally 
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GODDARD— THE ART OF SELLING.— Continued. 
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HERBERT— THE TEMPLE. Sacred Poems and Pri- 
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LIGGINS— THE GREAT VALUE AND SUCCESS 
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LOOMIS— MODERN CITIES AND THEIR RE- 
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LOOMIS-MODERN CITIES, Etc.— Continued. 

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NATIONAL NEEDS AND REMEDIES.. The Dis- 
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_ The important subject of causing, by means of inter-denomina- 
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NATIONAL PERILS AND OPPORTUNITIES. 

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The book is indispensable to every Christian who would keep 
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Among the speakers were: Dr. S. J. McPherson, Dr. Arthur T. 
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other prominent representatives of all denominations and all sec- 
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"All the prominent social questions which now confront the 
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PIERSON— THE CRISIS OF MISSIONS; OR, 
THE VOICE OUT OF THE CLOUD. By the 

Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D. i6mo, paper, 35 cents; 

cloth $1 25 

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PIERSON— EVANGELISTIC WORK IN PRIN- 
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An able discussion of the best methods of evangelization by an 
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